From Projects to People: Shifting the Software Acquisition Paradigm

n October 2006, Lt. Gen. MichaelHamel [1], the SMC’s ProgramExecutive Officer, briefed the SMC sys-tem software growth trend to the NationalDefense Industry Association DefenseSoftware Strategy Summit (see Figure 1).In [2], Buettner and Arnheimdescribed the SMC-wide review of testissues attributed to the TSPR-era acquisi-tion reform policy changes and its impactson embedded flight software; also provid-ed were space computer technologyimprovement reasons for the observedgrowth trend. While the legacy class ofvehicles (shown in Figure 1) appear tohave a manageable growth trend, the soft-ware growth trend for the future spacesystems (with envisioned systems greaterthan one million SLOC) is beyond any-thing our space defense establishment hashad to grapple with in the past.Hamel’s presentation supported abroad industry software strategy summitreport [3] containing the following recom-mendations (among others):• Review and analyze the software engi-neering, acquisition, and life cyclemanagement initiatives, policies,processes, and plans. This shouldoccur in service branches (Army, Navy,and Air Force), defense agencies, andin other organizations such as theNational Security Agency.• Solicit service branch, major com-mand, engineering center, and Pro-gram Executive Office software life-cycle management recommendations.• Define and publish the DoD’slong-term objectives and course of actionwith associated priorities and resourcesin a software life-cycle strategy.In the face of increased softwaredemand, software project difficulties, lim-ited experienced personnel availability,varied standards and processes, anddeclining budgets, the report recommendsthat DoD management staff continueaggressively focusing on “software engi-neering, acquisition, management, andhuman resource life-cycle challengesthrough the application of resources andfocused action” [3].Fundamentally, many of the problemsare a side effect of the DoD’s currentcompetitive bid acquisition strategy. It isour belief that a number of the problemscould be minimized using a paradigm shiftaway from competing for the softwareengineering and development aspect ofthese software-intensive contracts. Hence,we provide supporting arguments andinformation showing that a number of theissues that we have faced on the SBIRS—and those facing other software-intensivesystem acquisitions—are side-effectsattributable to constraints imposed by thecompetitive-bid acquisition process. Theseconstraints stress cost and schedule fromthe onset, resulting in additional reworkcycles from the late discovery of qualityissues. Furthermore, we will explain how aparadigm shift could minimize theseissues for the class of space system acqui-sitions that are on the future systems soft-ware growth trend. The current acquisi-tion paradigm involves a competitive bid(with software as a factor) between teamsof contractors in response to a request forproposal (RFP).