During negotiations, the contracting officer must leverage the negotiation strategy, which defines the importance of each issue and ensures that interactions with the supplier are confined to these issues. Each issue should be treated individually, usually in order of ease of resolution.
Depending on the complexity of the product or service to be purchased the contracting officer will involve the client, assigned counsel and other members of the purchase/SCM team in the negotiations with the supplier. The negotiations strategy will identify which team members will take the lead role in negotiating different aspects of the proposal. Outside expertise can be used during negotiations, but contracting officers must take steps to ensure that the potentiality for organizational conflicts of interest is minimized.
