Long before defense contractors generate request for proposals / quotations (RFP / RFQ) and send RFP / RFQ notices to worthy electronics suppliers and EMS providers for bid solicitations, substantial time and effort are expended in evaluating platform-level opportunities from their customers: typically one of the Armed Services or agencies, a super prime contractor, or even a foreign military opportunity.
Defining subsystem architectures, determining subsystem components and developing strategies for staffing and subcontract resources comprise a few of the complex and expensive steps involved.
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Only after mapping the feasibility of providing a good Concept of Operations (CONOPS) to their end customer, do defense contractors move forward with mapping more granular aspects of creating and managing a specific supply chain for the overall solution.
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Developing a formal RFP is a serious investment on the part of defense contractors. It is a big deal to be considered as a potential supplier.
There are substantial teaming and resource allocation elements in play to generate the make / buy decisions; partitioning of sub-systems to create BOMs, identifying and qualifying sources, determining the work breakdown structures, aggregating proper documentation, and creating the statements of work dovetailed to a subcontract’s management strategy.
Keep in mind – all of this occurs just to ready a preliminary RFP.
A carefully chosen roster of like-competitors is then targeted to receive the preliminary RFP and their responses essentially become an initial body of commentary and perspectives to help contract review teams assess the best configurations and final qualifications for the supply chain.
After integrating commentary from the contract review teams, potential suppliers may then receive a second, more formal, RFP and the resulting proposals are then vetted by the contract review teams.
At this stage, contract review teams are making final sourcing selections and developing strategies and performing independent cost evaluations and cost roll-ups before any final business lead team and executive reviews take place.
Once the executive team approves the strategy and support plan, a formal bid is submitted back upstream to the originating customer who does their own version of evaluation before a prime contract award is given.
Following the award, the real work begins.
During this intense, upfront work by any contract review team, a subcontract management team was simultaneously designated to negotiate and award subcontracts (as in ‘subordinate’ to the prime contract award) and to initiate supplier management disciplines including: startup logistics; on site team designations, process controls, status and cost, risk management, change management, reporting schedules, performance metrics, and a subcontract life phase scheme including formal contract close out plans.
It is not unusual for the above to include 50 people of varying disciplines on a contract review team managing the supply chain; technical and cost equations, and for the RFP alone to cost upwards of $10 million (or more) to generate.
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On top of this, imagine that at any moment there are at least a dozen contracts being addressed by the defense contractor in a similar manner…
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