The place to start is GSA’s own web pages. You need some basic information before you start into trying to determine market size. First you need to learn which GSA Schedule contract you are interested in pursuing. Start your research at the GSA E-Library www.gsaelibrary.gsa.gov. There is a link there on the right to the GSA Schedules listing. This is a list of all of the GSA schedules and what they cover. Or you can enter a search term representing the products or services you wish to research and let the search engine suggest schedules.

After selecting the GSA Schedule you need to determine the GSA Special Item Number or SIN that covers the specific products or services. For example, if I wanted to check the market for access control systems that are on entryways, I would find that they are Schedule 84, SIN 246 35 1 or 246 35 2 depending on whether they were proximity or other type systems. If I wanted to find out who already had those types of contracts, I could click on the SIN links and see the list of contract holders. I could also click on any of those contract holders and see what they offered and at what prices.

With this information the next step is to go to the GSA Schedule Sales Query (SSQ) tool to begin the market size research – https://ssq.gsa.gov/. Select “Create Report” and proceed to the report selection page. The SSQ report generator allows you to quickly select a preformatted report of the GSA Schedule sales. GSA offers eleven report formats. Some of the reports will instruct you to select a Schedule number, a Fiscal Year, a Contract number, or a Company name that you found from your search of the E-Library. The report formats are:

Selecting a report sample helps determine if that report will provide the information you require.

SSQ presents sales figures as reported to GSA by contractors. The reports are generated as quarterly reports for the current year and the past five fiscal years. The sales data reported are updated as contractors’ reports are received 30 days after the end of the quarter, but the data may not be up to date as it relies on the self-reporting of the contractors. The data is also only provided at the schedule, contractor and /or SIN level. This does not give you information about the market for a specific product, only a product type. However, GSA does provide the most accurate information available as to the GSA Schedule contract marketplace and it’s free. Happy hunting!

Things to Do Now:

• Research the GSA Schedule marketplace for your products or services.
• Determine if the market is sufficient for the investment into a GSA Schedule contract.
• Subscribe to GovContracts to receive notices of federal opportunities (http://search.govcontractsmagazine.com/contracts/fbosearch.cfm)
• To expand the government’s ability to access your products without worrying about the market size you can get your items on a GSA Schedule contract.
• Locate partners now such as Technical Communities who will act for you in the market.
• Make sure they have full access to the products or services that are in demand for the government markets.

Being assigned the task of finding a defect in a modern IC device can be similar to having to find that errant basketball. Are you ready for this task? Your company’s reputation for quality may depend on it.

When it comes to products for the medical or automotive markets, the quality requirements are extremely high, targeting very low to zero DPPM (defective parts per million). In many cases, the customer sets these requirements, dictating, for instance, both the specific metrics for test-coverage goals and the fault models that you must use. Test requirements also can be associated with specific industry standards, such as those from the Automotive Electronics Council, to ensure that comparative metrics are used.

Many companies have entire organizations and teams dedicated to product quality and yield enhancement, and DFT (design for test) is a key element from product planning through production. Although high test coverage is commonly used as a defining metric, it is only one piece of providing high-quality IC products. In addition to ensuring adequate test coverage, you must generate the correct test patterns, ensure they run on the specified ATE (automatic test equipment), and also ensure they work on first silicon and in production test. And when material starts to fail tests, you must be able to identify the root cause so the problem can be avoided next time. Quality doesn’t happen by accident; it must be designed into the product and process.

Planning for quality

Some wise person once said that most people don’t plan to fail; they just fail to plan. A comprehensive test plan is imperative for achieving high-quality ICs. The first step in developing a plan is to determine what the quality requirements are for the design and what elements in the design need to be tested to ensure those requirements are met. For instance, is the design all digital logic, or does it also have some analog pieces? Does the design include embedded memories or PLLs (phase-locked loops) for on-chip clock generation? Are there high-speed I/O pins or any other special interface requirements? What are the requirements for the target market?

Here are some of the main items to consider when putting together a test plan:

• For large designs or when using multiple ATPG (automatic test-pattern generation) fault models, it is common to include some on-chip test-compression technique. Does this design need test compression? If so, how much?
• Which BIST (built-in self-test) algorithms will you use to test any on-chip memory?
• Which type of ATE will you use? What are its capabilities and limitations? Will testing occur at the wafer level, at the packaged-part level, or both?
• Must tests run at system speed? How many clock domains are there, and how should testing be done between those domains?
• Will diagnostics and FA (failure analysis) be done when ICs fail during production test? How will that data be used to improve yield and quality?
• What standards need to be complied with, such as IEEE 1149.1 or 1149.6 for boundary scan?

Full article by Colin Renfrew, Freescale Semiconductor, and Bruce Swanson, Mentor Graphics — Test & Measurement World

Factors and subfactors

Every procurement must be evaluated based on evaluation factors and subfactors established before the release of the request for proposals. The government tailors those factors and subfactors to represent areas of importance for source selection and provide a basis for meaningful comparison among competing proposals. Agencies have broad discretion in establishing evaluation factors and subfactors and determining the relative importance of those factors. As a capture manager, you want to discuss those factors and their relative importance and offer guidance to the agency, if requested.

Technical, management and other evaluation factors

Noncost evaluation factors must be established to assess the quality of proposed solutions, services or products. Those factors can include technical approach, management capability, personnel qualifications, prior experience or small-business participation, among others. Some agencies prescribe a standard set of evaluation factors for their procurements and then add factors specific to a procurement as needed. As a capture manager, you want to know what factors are required and what optional factors the agency might consider. After an agency selects factors, it tailors subfactors for each one to outline important considerations in the procurement and provide a basis for comparing bidders. Agencies have broad discretion to set subfactors for each procurement.

Past-performance evaluation factor

Past performance is a mandatory evaluation factor, and agencies must include it in every procurement that exceeds the value of the simplified acquisition threshold, unless the contracting officer specifically excludes it. The agency describes its approach to evaluating past performance and usually requires bidders to provide past-performance contract summaries for relevant contracts of similar size, scope and complexity. Past-performance selection criteria can be defined broadly or narrowly. For example, past-performance contract references might be restricted to contracts performed or completed in the past three years. Narrow definitions can eliminate some excellent contracts from being presented as past-performance examples.

Full article by Bob Lohfeld, Washignton Technology

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The SAT is the threshold under which the government can use less formal procedures to purchase their goods and services. Typically these purchases are done by issuing a Request for Quotation or RFQ. For those requirements under $25,000, no FedBizOps announcement is required. Agencies can use a local business list. Terms and conditions, evaluations and award are simplified and can even be done orally.

Small business set asides are mandatory for acquisitions under $150,000 (excluding those under $3,000 or on a GSA schedule). Agencies must set these aside unless there are no small businesses that can provide the requirement or perform the service. Agencies in your area will most likely use the small business in their area to fulfill their requirements.

SAT procedures can be used to acquire open market items when the total requirement is under $150, 000. These are items that are not on GSA contract because of trade agreement act restrictions, new items, or pricing issues. When this is the case, again small businesses get preference for providing those items. When the SAT procedures are competed, an agency can include those items on their GSA contract order.

Things to Do Now:

• Make sure you are on the local bidders lists for any federal agency or installation in your area.

• Make sure your business size and NAIC codes are correct in your CCR and ORCA websites (https://www.bpn.gov/ccr/default.aspx; https://orca.bpn.gov)

• Subscribe to GovContracts to receive notices of federal opportunities (http://search.govcontractsmagazine.com/contracts/fbosearch.cfm)

• To expand the government’s ability to access your products without worrying about the new thresholds you can get your items on a GSA Schedule contract.
  - Locate partners now such as Technical Communities who will act for you in the market.
  - Make sure they have full access to the products or services that are in demand for the government markets.

By 2013, revenues in the sensor-based instrument market are predicted to be more than double the revenues of 2003.

Many factors are at play in the sensor-based instrument market. For example, the growth of data-acquisition systems has enabled manufacturers to embed microprocessors, custom programming, and displays into proprietary packaged devices, and data-acquisition hybrid devices often can store data for analysis on a computer at a later point in time. Further, product improvements in signal conditioners have improved the interface between real-world analog and digital sensor signals and data-acquisition or measurement and control systems at both the system and the device level. Advances in wide dynamic range encourage the use of vibration and acceleration sensors in test and measurement applications. All of these factors point to a growing market for sensor-based instruments, yet the enhanced ruggedness of many sensors has given them a longer lifespan, and this may have been delaying demands for new products.

Market dynamics

Though the process industry is the largest market driving the predictive and preventive maintenance market, revenues from power generation and aerospace have a higher rate of growth. It is estimated that for sensor-based test instruments, the revenues from automotive and aerospace are likely to dominate the market. This growth can be attributed to the higher use of accelerometers, flow transmitters, and data-acquisition devices.

The consumer electronics end user industry is anticipated to provide major growth for the sensor market in the period from 2010 to 2013. The main growth drivers in this space are the increased use of accelerometers and data-acquisition devices. Power generation is the next largest industry expected to grow, due to the increased adoption of test equipment for monitoring various parameters.

Sensors have been making deeper penetration into the test and measurement market with revenues growing since the year 2003, when the sensor industry generated just $1255.3 million. The industry experienced a dip in revenue growth rates in 2008, but recovery started in the second half of 2009, with revenues moving up to $1967.2 million for that year.

It is estimated that in the future, the revenue growth rate is likely to be stronger and will translate into sizable revenues of $3097.3 million by 2013. The use of sensors in test and measurement instruments is likely to accelerate, with the high degree of precision provided by sensor-based test and measurement instruments being key to the end user’s demand.

Full article by Dr. Rajender Thusu, Test & Measurement World