Contracting officers must ensure that planned Direct Vendor Delivery (DVD) contracts comply with TDD standards for requisition processing to the maximum extent practicable as promulgated in DoD Materiel Management Regulation DOD 4140.1-R, Appendix 8 (http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/html/41401r.htm). When cost considerations for obtaining TDD timeframes prove not to be justifiable or are impractical, contracting officers should consider other alternatives such as: 1) obtain and use DVD support for only those lower requisition priorities for which TDD can be met and use stock support for high priority requisitions; 2) contract for stock only. These business decisions must be fully supported by an economic analysis, Business Case Analysis or Vendor Stock Retention model analysis, where applicable, in accordance with PROCLTR 03-01.
In certain cases, the inclusion of a “desired and required time of delivery” provision may be helpful in determining the costs as well as the vendors’ ability to deliver rapidly. Consideration must be given to other factors including, but not limited to, those in the FAR reference listed above, in conjunction with the VSRM when developing the required BCA. For example, there are suppliers that consistently deliver a high percentage of their contract line items rapidly; yet, delivery may exceed TDD standards. If the additional time results in reduced prices and improved supply availability and readiness, this may be a situation where DVD is appropriate. In such cases, the analysis and determination should be well documented.
