Analyze Potential Sources of Products

Identifying sources of products that might be used to satisfy the project’s requirements involves monitoring the market to identify potential sources of such products. The products available in the market continually change, as does the information about the capabilities of products and their suppliers. Thus, new information that may be essential to deciding which potential sources are most effective continually becomes available. Monitoring the market to identify potential sources involves proactively searching for such information and incorporating it into ongoing and future decisions.

• Conduct market research to identify potential sources of candidate products to be acquired, including candidates from suppliers of custom-made products and vendors of COTS products.
• Evaluate potential sources against established criteria by performing trade studies, as appropriate. The purpose of evaluating sources is to achieve a better understanding of the relative merits of alternative sources in terms of their potential to satisfy project requirements.
• Identify risks associated with the potential sources.