Improving the Initiation of Acquisition Activities for Automated Information Systems

The success rate for acquiring automated information systems (AIS) continues to be a source of considerable interest to Congress and the Department of Defense. Building upon Defense Science Board recommendations, the authors' research identifies improvements for initiating information systems acquisition. Adding a soft start period prior to the Materiel Development Decision allows the acquisition community to negotiate with end users regarding system concepts that can satisfy the materiel solution concept and better manage the flexibility of AIS concepts to lower risks. This management is enabled through a newly formulated reference frame that maps the materiel solution concept to the system concept and allows the system concept to be reorganized and optimized prior to the analysis of acquisition approaches.