WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The Air Force relies on numerous vendors for critical supplies and everyday items, and the Long-Range Acquisition Estimate helps ensure that the Air Force gets the highest-quality products and services at the lowest prices.
Through better requirements identification and planning, and use of the LRAE, Air Force officials are more effective in communicating needs to the marketplace. As a result, the LRAE helps the small business community better understand Air Force requirements and increases competition among suppliers to meet the service's needs. The LRAE is also an important market research tool in the development of acquisition strategies.
Undersecretary of the Air Force Erin C. Conaton recently signed a memorandum supporting the LRAE.
"One of the most valuable tools the Air Force has to communicate with industry regarding future mission requirements is the LRAE," Ms. Conaton wrote. "To assist with planning and locating additional sources of supply, it is important to develop long-range acquisition estimates and make them available to industry by using the LRAE tool."
The Air Force Small Business Programs Office recently completed updates to the LRAE content management system to make the tool more user friendly. The estimate meets the intent of the Small Business Act requirement to prepare a forecast of expected contract opportunities, and the tool is a critical resource for companies interested in doing business with the Air Force.
Companies are able to search the LRAE using several variables, including type of procurement, contract value, purchasing organization and solicitation type. Additionally, small businesses can rely on information contained in the LRAE to perform advance planning, helping to unlock the potential of small businesses that might not otherwise be developed.
But to be most effective, LRAE data must be input when the requirement is identified, and it must be subsequently updated as projections change. As a result, acquisition planners, contracting officers and small business specialists have been asked to establish processes optimizing LRAE use in forecasting and maintaining up-to-date records.
The LRAE may be accessed through the Air Force Small Business website at
www.AirForceSmallBiz.org.
(Courtesy of Air Force Small Business Programs Office)