Dod gig systems engineering oversight process

#Dod gig systems engineering oversight process professional

If the government wants things done a certain way, they can specify it in the system requirements, incorporate it into the contract, or provide the contractor with non-obligatory recommendations. They also empower the program office with both legal authority and soft power to oversee every step of the process. These policies and guidance put constraints on program offices in the interest of fair contracting and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

#Dod gig systems engineering oversight process professional

Moreover, the DoD created Defense Acquisition University to offer accredited, graduate-level courses, ongoing professional development, and a one-stop shop for practical acquisition tools to its workforce DAU.mil is a publicly-accessible treasure trove of acquisition knowledge.ДЄll of this to say that the DoD is well-organized when it comes to system acquisitions and contracting. The acquisition process and guidelines provide a roadmap for executing every step of a project. Federal regulations as well as DoD-specific policies provide rules for contracts and project management, dictate the gates at which decisionmakers approve continued investment, require reporting of key data to government databases and to Congress, and more. Program offices are supported in this task by a large network of government resources. Though the prime contractor gets their name on the system, it is the program office which sets the acquisition approach, shapes the capability, and shepherds the system through the acquisition and into the hands of the users.

These offices are staffed by a mix of bureaucrats, engineers, and domain experts, often former users of the system or similar systems. Communications satellite? Air Force Military Satellite Communications Systems Directorate. Fighter jet? F-35 Joint Program Office 2. Submarine-launched ballistic missile? Navy Strategic Systems Programs. Most projects are overseen by a single government office specializing in the type of system need an attack helicopter? YouвЂ™ll want to get in touch with the Apache Project Office, under Army Program Executive Office Aviation. The reality is that the government has a pretty significant amount of oversight and control over systems engineering projects.

You might hear in the news about a big new DoD contract and picture the contractor going off to do the work, coming back in a couple of years with new airplanes or missiles or whatever rolling off the production lines. Most large defense systems are created by a prime contractor, which has competed with other contractors on price, schedule, solution capability, and experience to demonstrate that theyвЂ™re the best company for the job. Though there are many players and moving parts, the heart of this process is systems engineering. To obtain such systems, the DoD implements the defense acquisition system, an involved and highly regulated process for determining exactly what those demands are and obtaining a capability which meets them within the available budget. You canвЂ™t buy an anti-aircraft gun, a nuclear submarine, or a spy satellite from a catalog complex military systems are necessarily bespoke, created to the specific demands of the customers. And the reason is simple: The DoD acquires more types of systems and more complicated systems than any other organization in the world 1

The Department of Defense (DoD) doesnвЂ™t just influence systems engineering practice, it practically dictates it. The title of this post is slightly misleading.