Skip to main content

Defense Acquisitions: Stronger Management Practices Are Needed to Improve DOD's Software-Intensive Weapon Acquisitions

GAO-04-393 Published: Mar 01, 2004. Publicly Released: Mar 01, 2004.
Jump To:
Skip to Highlights

Highlights

The Department of Defense (DOD) has been relying increasingly on computer software to introduce or enhance performance capabilities of major weapon systems. To ensure successful outcomes, software acquisition requires disciplined processes and practices. Without such discipline, weapon programs encounter difficulty in meeting cost and schedule targets. For example, in fiscal year 2003, DOD might have spent as much as $8 billion to rework software because of quality-related issues. GAO was asked to identify the practices used by leading companies to acquire software and to analyze the causes of poor outcomes of selected DOD programs. GAO also was asked to evaluate DOD's efforts to develop programs for improving software acquisition processes and to assess how those efforts compare with leading companies' practices.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense As DOD changes the way it manages software intensive systems, it must take steps to ensure better acquisition outcomes. The Secretary of Defense should, to assure DOD appropriately sets and manages requirements, document that software requirements are achievable based on knowledge obtained from systems engineering prior to beginning development and that DOD and the contractor have a mutual understanding of the software requirements. Furthermore, trade-off analyses should be performed, supported by systems engineering analysis, considering performance, cost, and schedule impacts of major changes to software requirements.
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with the recommendation, and in September 2004 the Air Force issued a policy memorandum to its acquisition staff to produce realistic baseline performance requirements based on systems engineering analysis and establish effective program office processes to support software development including ensuring that the developer has the skills and strengths to manage development.
Department of Defense As DOD changes the way it manages software intensive systems, it must take steps to ensure better acquisition outcomes. The Secretary of Defense should, to ensure DOD acquisitions are managed to a disciplined process, have acquirers develop a list of systems engineering deliverables (including software), tailored to the program characteristics, and based on the results of systems engineering activities that software developers are required to provide at the appropriate stages of the system development phases of requirements, design, fabrication/coding, integration, and testing.
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with the recommendation and the Air Force initiated a policy change in September 2004 to require software deliverables and to ensure developer maturity.
Department of Defense As DOD changes the way it manages software intensive systems, it must take steps to ensure better acquisition outcomes. The Secretary of Defense should, to ensure DOD has the knowledge it needs to oversee software-intensive acquisitions, have acquirers require software contractors to collect and report metrics related to cost, schedule, size, requirements, tests, defects, and quality to program offices on a monthly basis and before program milestones and that acquirers should ensure that contractors have an earned value management system that reports cost and schedule information at a level of work that provides information specific to software development.
Closed – Implemented
DOD partially concurred with the recommendation, agreeing that the developer should provide metrics related to software development, but did not agree with the monthly intervals for reporting. The Air Force initiated a policy change requiring earned value reports on software development and a core set of metrics including those enumerated in GAO's report.
Department of Defense As DOD changes the way it manages software intensive systems, it must take steps to ensure better acquisition outcomes. These practices should be included and enforced with controls and incentives in DOD's acquisitions policy, software acquisition improvement plans and development contracts, by the Secretary of Defense.
Closed – Implemented
The Air Force created a policy memorandum in September 2004 to incorporate improvements to software acquisition and development into its policy.

Full Report

Office of Public Affairs

Topics

SoftwareMilitary procurementMilitary research and developmentProcurement policyProcurement practicesWeapons research and developmentWeapons systemsSoftware developmentSystems designContract performance