Service Oriented Acquisition: Harmonizing Horizontal Requirements with a Traditionally Vertical Process

摘要

The Department of Defense has adopted the concept of Netcentric Operations and Warfare, i.e. effective, distributed, collaboration over a network to gain asymmetric advantage, especially with respect to information superiority. To enable NCO/W, the DoD has issued transformational policy mandating change from a vertical (stovepiped), serial, system-centric requirement model to a horizontal, capability-based, adaptive, requirement model. This policy specifically calls for using the service oriented architecture (SOA) paradigm as a change agent, and a means to accelerate delivery of information processing capability. However, the intent of this SOA- enabled netcentric requirements policy is at odds with the implementation detail mandated by Acquisition policy. That is, Acquisition policy does not offer tools to enable, let alone encourage, cross program development of enterprise capability or to de-couple software development from the rigid, serial, timelines associated with developing sensors, weapons, and platforms. This paper suggests a way to subtly nudge two aspects of the existing policy regime to provide those tools. In particular, the Net-Ready Key Performance Parameter (NR-KPP) should be based on a minimal matrix of measurable and testable criteria that can be observed on the ground, written into enforceable contract language, and rolled up into executive dashboards. The Tailored Information Support Plan (T-ISP) concept should be expanded to include the notion of a network service stack (NSS) to address enterprise-level information processing capability. The intent of a NSS T-ISP would be to provide a plan, enforceable through contract language, that will maintain NR-KPP service level objectives throughout a capability lifecycle.