47.305-7 Quantity analysis, direct delivery, and reduction of crosshauling and backhauling
Source: FAR 47.305-7 on acquisition.gov
Contracting officers must proactively optimize transportation logistics by analyzing quantities, considering direct delivery, and minimizing inefficient shipping routes to reduce costs.
Overview
FAR 47.305-7 outlines requirements for government contracting professionals to optimize transportation and delivery logistics when acquiring supplies. The regulation emphasizes analyzing quantity purchases, considering direct delivery to end users, and minimizing inefficient transportation practices such as crosshauling and backhauling. The goal is to reduce overall transportation costs and improve supply chain efficiency without negatively impacting program schedules.
Key Rules
- Quantity Analysis
- Requiring activities must consider purchasing in carload or truckload quantities to leverage transportation efficiencies. If additional quantities can be shipped at lower unit costs or with minimal total cost increase, contracting officers must check for known future requirements to potentially consolidate orders.
- Direct Delivery
- When supplies are typically shipped to a central point for redistribution, contracting officers should evaluate if direct delivery from the contractor to the end user is feasible and cost-effective.
- Reduction of Crosshauling and Backhauling
- Contracting officers must select distribution and transshipment points that minimize the movement of goods in opposite directions or unnecessary returns through previously traversed areas.
Responsibilities
- Contracting Officers: Must coordinate with requiring activities to analyze quantities, assess direct delivery options, and select efficient distribution points.
- Contractors: Should be prepared to support direct delivery and provide information on shipment quantities and logistics.
- Agencies: Oversee compliance with transportation efficiency requirements and ensure program schedules are not adversely affected.
Practical Implications
This section exists to ensure government supply acquisitions are logistically efficient and cost-effective. It impacts daily contracting by requiring proactive planning and coordination between contracting officers and requiring activities. Common pitfalls include failing to consider future requirements, overlooking direct delivery opportunities, or selecting inefficient distribution routes.
(a) Quantity analysis.
(1) The requiring activity shall consider the acquisition of carload or truckload quantities.
(2) When additional quantities of the supplies being acquired can be transported at lower unit transportation costs or with a relatively small increase in total transportation costs, with no impairment to the program schedule, the contracting officer shall ascertain from the requiring activity whether there is a known requirement for additional quantities. This may be the case, for example, when the additional quantity could profitably be stored by the activity for future use, or could be distributed advantageously to several using activities on the same transportation route or in the same geographical area.
(b) Direct delivery. When it is the usual practice of a requiring activity to acquire supplies in large quantities for shipment to a central point and subsequent distribution to using activities, as needed, consideration shall be given, if sufficient quantities are involved to warrant scheduling direct delivery, to the feasibility of providing for direct delivery from the contractor to the using activity, thereby reducing the cost of transportation and handling.
(c) Crosshauling and backhauling. The contracting officer shall select distribution and transshipment facilities intermediate to origins and ultimate destinations to reduce crosshauling and backhauling; i.e., to the transportation of personal property of the same kind in opposite directions or the return of the property to or through areas previously traversed in shipment.