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DEFENSE ACQUISITION GUIDEBOOK
FOREWORD The Defense Acquisition System exists to manage the Nation's investments in technologies, programs, and product support necessary to achieve the National Security Strategy and support the United States Armed Forces. In that context, our continued objective is to rapidly acquire quality products that satisfy user needs with measurable improvements to mission capability at a fair and reasonable price. The fundamental principles and procedures that the Department follows in achieving those objectives are described in DoD Directive 5000.1 and DoD Instruction 5000.2. The Defense Acquisition Guidebook is designed to complement those policy documents by providing the acquisition workforce with discretionary best practice that should be tailored to the needs of each program.
Acquisition professionals should use this Guidebook as a reference source supporting their management responsibilities. As an “on-line” resource, the information is limited only by the user’s interest or need. Some chapters contain general content; they provide individual topic discussions and describe processes and considerations that will improve the effectiveness of program planning. Some chapters may provide a tutorial on the application of these topics to the acquisition framework. Depending on the subject matter, a chapter may contain general background information, tutorial discussions, and/or discussions of the detailed requirements for each milestone decision and phase. All chapters contain non-mandatory staff expectations for satisfying the mandatory requirements in DoD Instruction 5000.2.
Each chapter is designed to improve understanding of the acquisition process and ensure adequate knowledge of the statutory and regulatory requirements associated with the process. Discussions, explanations, and electronic links to related information enable the “reader” to be efficient, effective, innovative, and disciplined, and to responsively provide warfighting capability. Each chapter lists potential ways the program manager or assigned manager can satisfy mandatory process requirements and meet staff expectations for other activities. Differences of view regarding discretionary practice will be resolved by the Milestone Decision Authority.
The Guidebook should be viewed as an electronic resource rather than a “book.” The “reader” “navigates” the information instead of “leafing” through hundreds of physical, collated pages. Navigation is electronic movement through the reference system. There are three ways to view the information:
Select the Document View tab to review Guidebook information page-by-page. Select the Lifecycle Framework tab to review statutory and regulatory requirements and related best practice for each Milestone and acquisition phase. And Select the Functional/Topic View tab to review comprehensive discussions of key acquisition topics. (There is also an on-line tutorial available that goes into greater detail and describes the full capability provided by the Guidebook.)
At the chapter level, you may scroll up and down through the text, and jump between previous and next paragraphs. Throughout the text, hyperlinks let you electronically jump to related information. Many times, the links take you to another paragraph in the Guidebook. Some links take you to related text in either acquisition policy documentsor the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System documents. Other links will take you to external references, such as United States Code, the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or other formal DoD publications. Still others will take you to related, informal sources that are rich in information, such as the various Defense Acquisition University Communities of Practice.
To maximize the utility of this system, we recommend you use a computer that has Internet Explorer 6.x or higher, and is JavaScript enabled. The hardware requirement is whatever is necessary to support Internet Explorer 6. Overview of the Defense Acquisition Guidebook
This Guidebook contains the following 11 chapters:
Chapter 1, Department of Defense Decision Support Systems?, presents an overview of the Defense Department’s decision support systems for strategic planning and resource allocation, the determination of capability needs, and the acquisition of systems.
Chapter 2, Defense Acquisition Program Goals and Strategy?, discusses acquisition program goals and the topics the program manager should consider in developing a strategy for the acquisition program. It addresses the required information associated with the Acquisition Program Baseline and the program’s Acquisition Strategy
Chapter 3, Affordability and Lifecycle Resource Estimates?, addresses acquisition program affordability and resource estimation.
Chapter 4, Systems Engineering?, covers the system design issues facing a program manager, and details the systems engineering processes that aid the program manager in designing an integrated system that results in a balanced capability solution.
Chapter 5, Lifecycle Logistics?, provides the program manager with a description of Lifecycle Logistics and its application throughout the system life cycle, from concept to disposal.
Chapter 6, Human Systems Integration?, addresses the human systems elements of the systems engineering process. It will help the program manager design and develop systems that effectively and affordably integrate with human capabilities and limitations; and it makes the program manager aware of the staff resources available to assist in this endeavor.
Chapter 7, Acquiring Information Technology and National Security Systems?, explains how the Department of Defense complies with statutory and regulatory requirements for acquiring IT and NSS systems and is using a network-centric strategy to transform DoD warfighting, business, and intelligence capabilities. The chapter also provides descriptions and explanations of the Clinger-Cohen Act, the Business Management Modernization Program and many other associated topics and concepts, and discusses many of the activities that enable the development of net-centric systems.
Chapter 8, Intelligence, Counterintelligence, and Security Support?, describes program manager responsibilities regarding research and technology protection to prevent inadvertent technology transfer, and provides guidance for and describes the support available for protecting those technologies.
Chapter 9, Integrated Test and Evaluation?, discusses many of the topics associated with test and evaluation, to include oversight, Developmental Test and Evaluation, Operational Test and Evaluation, and Live Fire Test and Evaluation. The chapter enables the program manager to develop a robust, integrated test and evaluation strategy to assess operational effectiveness and suitability, and to support program decisions.
Chapter 10, Decisions, Assessments, and Periodic Reporting?, prepares the program manager and Milestone Decision Authority to execute their respective oversight responsibilities.
Chapter 11, Program Management Activities?, explains the additional activities and decisions required of the program manager, not otherwise discussed in earlier chapters of this Guidebook.