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General — Due to the rapid changes in technology, it may be advisable to provide for such changes in Postal Service contracts (a) to conform to commercial market conditions so suppliers are not forced to maintain continued production of obsolete goods, and (b) to enable internal customers the flexibility to upgrade their respective infrastructures along the lines of currently available technology.
Substitution of IT Equipment — When it is likely that market forces will change so rapidly that a supplier may be forced to maintain production lines of outdated technology in order to meet the requirements of a Postal Service contract, IT contracts should include Clause 4-16: Substitution of Information Technology to ensure that the supplier has the opportunity to focus its production capabilities on the latest product offerings; simultaneously the Postal Service benefits by receiving the latest equivalent products from the supplier at no additional cost.
Technology Enhancement — Contracts should include Clause 4-17: Technology Enhancement when requirements organizations wish to have the latest technology available. This clause requires suppliers to propose state-of-the-art products regardless of whether or not current offerings are in production. The proposed offerings may or may not be equivalent in price to the offerings under contract, but the capabilities (such as performance capacity) must meet or exceed contract requirements. In these cases, the CO, representing the purchase/SCM team, conducts a cost/capability analysis to ensure that price per unit of capability is consistent with the original contract’s prices. If the offerings far exceed the Postal Service’s needs, the Postal Service may decline to accept the proposal.
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