What is the purpose of an Acquisition Strategy (AS)?

What is the purpose of an Acquisition Strategy (AS)?

• A. To guide execution from initiation through re-procurement systems, subsystems, components, spares, and services beyond the initial production contract award and during post-production support
• B. To reduce costs only
• C. To manage vendor relationships exclusively
• D. To define funding levels for a program

Answer: (A)

An Acquisition Strategy sets the plan for obtaining all the goods and services a program will need across its entire life cycle, from initiation through development, production, deployment, and sustained support after the initial contract award. It lays out how procurement will be organized, what contracting approaches and competition will be used, how suppliers and relationships will be managed, and how risks, life-cycle costs, and sustainment—including re-procurement and post-production support—will be addressed. This broad, lifecycle-focused guidance ensures that decisions about sourcing, contracts, and support align with program goals and resources throughout the project. It’s not just about cutting costs, nor solely about vendor management, nor only about funding levels; those elements may be addressed within the strategy, but the purpose is to guide acquisition activities across the full life cycle.

An Acquisition Strategy sets the plan for obtaining all the goods and services a program will need across its entire life cycle, from initiation through development, production, deployment, and sustained support after the initial contract award. It lays out how procurement will be organized, what contracting approaches and competition will be used, how suppliers and relationships will be managed, and how risks, life-cycle costs, and sustainment—including re-procurement and post-production support—will be addressed. This broad, lifecycle-focused guidance ensures that decisions about sourcing, contracts, and support align with program goals and resources throughout the project. It’s not just about cutting costs, nor solely about vendor management, nor only about funding levels; those elements may be addressed within the strategy, but the purpose is to guide acquisition activities across the full life cycle.