Software Engineering Institute

Acquisition is the process of obtaining products and services through contracting. This practice area applies to those organizations that are purchasing or commissioning, rather than developing, at least some of the products, or parts of the products, that they turn out. The growing trend towards outsourcing or "off shoring" makes this practice area much more common than ever before. If your organization has limited resources, you can use acquisition in a variety of ways, from augmenting your own development effort to commissioning the development of an entire product or group of products.