DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PURCHASING OF COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE OFF-THE-SHELF SPECIAL OPERATIONAL EQUIPMENT: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DEFENSE CONTRACTING AND COMMERCIAL E-COMMERCE PURCHASING

The purpose of this research was to conduct a comparative analysis of an existing Department of Defense (DOD) contract for commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) special operational equipment (SOE) items with commercial e-commerce portals to determine if there were certain categories of commercial items that should be purchased through the online marketplace. Specifically, the research analysis compared a specific set of COTS SOE items purchased by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Troop Support through its tailored logistics support program (TLSP) contracts with the same set of items available for purchase through commercial e-commerce portals. The comparative analysis between DOD contracts and commercial e-commerce portals pinpointed benefits, disadvantages, and limitations of the implementation of commercial e-commerce portals for the procurement of COTS SOE.ARPLieutenant Commander, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited