Collaborative Achievement of Advanced Acquisition Environments

This paper describes the methodology being pursued by Department of Defense Acquisition Council and The Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP) to achieve advanced acquisition environments. Shared concepts have been identified by review of acquisition initiatives/strategies such as Simulation Based Acquisition (SBA); system of systems (SoS) development and testing; mission area management; and Integrated Digital Environments. From this concept set, a complete work breakdown structure (WBS) is being defined to support the realization of the required enablers. These enablers will allow programs to incrementally implement such acquisition environments. With the enabler WBS as a framework, various organizations spanning government, industry, academia and commercial standards bodies, both national and international can then collaborate to develop and share the enablers. A baseline WBS version is presented, some representative examples of in-hand and in-work enablers are identified, and the way ahead is described. 1. Advanced Acquisition Environments There are many initiatives, proposals and activities underway across government, industry and academia, within the U.S. and around the globe, that seek to improve the system acquisition (a.k.a., product development) process. To remain competitive in the marketplace, defense companies, like their commercial counterparts, are harnessing information technology (IT) to integrate geographically dispersed, multi-company teams for product definition, development, production, marketing and support. The Department of Defense is likewise interested in using advanced IT to take a whole-life, system of systems (SoS) view of new systems, extending into the operational employment phase. The use of modeling and simulation (M&S) has a prominent role in most of these efforts, being seen as a key tool for meeting aggressive goals for increasing quality, customer satisfaction and market share, and reducing risk, time to market and cost. The end states these efforts seek are here referred to collectively as "advanced acquisition environments.” A representative sampling of the initiatives, programs and activities in view follows: q The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Simulation Based Acquisition (SBA) initiative, now established as key policy for effective management in the new capstone DoD acquisition directive [1] q DoD’s Integrated Digital Environment (IDE) initiative q The United Kingdom’s Smart Procurement and Synthetic Environment Based Acquisition (SEBA) initiatives. q The U.S. Navy’s Distributed Engineering Plant (DEP) and associated Collaborative Engineering Environment (CEE). q The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Joint Computer-Aided Acquisition and Logistic Support (JCALS) program q The Integrated Manufacturing Technology Initiative, a consortium effort by the U.S. Government Departments of Commerce, Defense and Energy q The National Aeronautics and Space Administration‘s Intelligent Synthesis Environment (ISE) q Boeing’s Advanced Digital Enterprise Process and Tools program q Lockheed Martin’s Virtual Product Development Initiative q The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Innovative Product Development’s Distributed Object Modeling Environment (DOME).U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), “Knowledge-based Interoperability Project” A more comprehensive, but still incomplete list of such efforts may be found in [2]. Since all of such efforts purport to improve the acquisition process, they engender both interest and confusion from the defense acquisition community. They likewise raise some interesting management challenges to government bodies that are stakeholders in this arena. 2. The Technical Cooperation Program Actions The Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP) is a longstanding cooperative research and development (R&D) program among five English-speaking nations: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These nations collaborate in scientific research and technology development to enhance future defense capabilities. All participating nations contribute to research and technology development, and all have full access the fruits of the collaboration. The nations also conduct workshops and studies to pool and exchange information. In these ways, TTCP seeks to augment the national defense programs, avoid unnecessary duplication, and identify and close gaps in the defense technology base. Additional TTCP information is available at http://www.dtic.mil/intst/. There are currently ten technical groups within TTCP, one of which is the Joint Systems and Analysis (JSA) Group. The JSA Group has recently established a technical panel on “Systems Engineering for Defence Modernisation” (TP-4). This panel is chaired by Mr. Bahrat Phatel of the United Kingdom’s Defence Evaluation and Research Activity (DERA). The JSA Group established TP-4 to examine the implication of procurement reform practices and processes, systems of systems methodologies, and whole life issues. It thus has a somewhat novel charter within TTCP, in that it is predominantly focused on exchanges of information regarding process rather than technology. Currently in its two-year start-up phase, TP-4 has been tasked to examine the topics of Systems of Systems Acquisition (SoS), Simulation Based Acquisition (SBA) and Integrated Digital Environments (IDE). At its September 2000 meeting in Washington, DC, TP-4 made several important observations regarding these three initiatives [3]: q Both the IDE and SBA initiatives aspire to improve defense system acquisition by providing advanced systems engineering environments q Effective systems of systems management requires the capabilities envisioned by IDE and SBA. q Together, these initiatives share many goals q Just as these initiatives aspire to fulfill common goals, they often share common enabling components, whether technical, process, or cultural Consequently, the Systems Engineering panel made the following recommendations: q The initiatives should not be treated as stove-pipes; potential synergy should be harnessed, resulting in: • More effective use of talent • Better leveraging of investments • Reduction of redundant efforts q Take a disciplined systems approach to building the envisioned system engineering capability The panel went on to note that the relationship found between the explicit and implicit goals of SoS, IDE and SBA initiatives and the enablers they require is expected to be repeated in other focus areas. 3. DoD Acquisition Council Actions SBA responsibility within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, along with chairmanship of the Acquisition Council, a component of the DoD Executive Council for Modeling and Simulation (EXCIMS), rests with the Director of Interoperability, Dr. V. Garber. Dr. Garber and other acquisition community leaders regard modeling and simulation as essential to the development and verification of interoperable defense systems. Another major motivation for pursuing SBA capabilities is the growing consensus among DoD leaders that the department must manage its acquisition activities on a SoS, vice individual weapon system, basis. [See reference 3 for additional information on the history of SBA within DoD.] Under Dr. Garber’s leadership, the Acquisition Council has been considering what corporate-level actions are appropriate and practical to promote the attainment of the capabilities envisioned by SBA. In November 2000 the council approved a set of goals for 2001. One of these goals builds on an approach originally advanced by the Navy Acquisition Reform Office [2], which is understand SBA in the context of the broader set of related efforts (referred to above) in order to establish a framework for collaboratively achieving the enabling policies, processes, technical capabilities, and cultural changes necessary to realize the goals that these efforts hold in common. Recognizing the compatibility and potential synergy between its own goals and those of the TTCP systems Engineering panel, the DoD Acquisition Council has decided to serve as one of the coordination points with future TTCP activities.