Though the FAR does not specify who performs market research, everyone on the acquisition team should be involved in some fashion. Ideally, contracting officers or a procurement team should partner with using/requiring activities on market research as soon as needs are forecast and as part of acquisition planning. If not possible prior to this point, contracting officers and their technical representatives should begin market research upon receipt [of] purchase requests. Contracting personnel should be careful not to assume full responsibility for conducting market research. The customer has the capability to research the market and certainly possesses more technical expertise than contracting personnel. It is important to break the paradigm that only contracting can talk to the "outside world."