Reengineering the acquisition/procurement process: A methodology for requirements collection

History has taught us that major process improvement can come about through a single paradigm change, or by a combination of smaller but important changes. The Acquisition Reengineering Project was initiated to help identify areas for improvement in the acquisition and procurement process at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The project team performed a feasibility study to generate requirements and perform preliminary benchmarking. As identified in the Acquisition Reengineering Project charter, the acquisition and procurement process begins when considering making or buying something (or preparing a proposal that would do so), and ends when all acquisition closeout activities are completed.