Applying an uncertainty-based acquisition strategy framework to select an appropriate approach for new product or system in the Military

Abstract

Given an uncertainty-based world with changing stakeholder needs, stakeholder objectives, operating environments, and technologies, there is a paradigm shift in systems engineering from systems built to last to systems built to evolve. This is further observed when developing a product/system with a tension between confidence in requirements and the ability to respond to requirements. This natural tension of uncertainties requires a framework for balancing the need-space and solution-space between acquisition managers & chief engineers and warfighters. Embedding flexibility in a product or system is a method to foster evolvability which can sustain value delivery to its stakeholders in a feasible time and cost-effective way after the product or system has been fielded. This research and subsequent findings develop a foundational framework that was tested and analyzed from past military acquisitions through anonymous surveys and voluntary interviews. This uncertainty-based strategy framework is intended to help guide the tailorable traditional pathway acquisition process during the material solution analysis phase and can provide valuable insight into guiding the correct acquisition strategy quadrant for system design.