9.6. T&E Reporting
Programs on the OSD T&E Oversight List report to the appropriate OSD oversight organization(s) on a periodic or event-driven basis. Reports are required from the program office, the proposed lead DT&E Organization, and the lead OTA to assist OSD in preparation for the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) review of system development and operational progress and risk, and for congressionally mandated annual reports.
9.6.1. Milestone B Reporting
The risk associated with a Milestone B decision, should be based on reports to the DASD(DT&E) and the DOT&E to permit assessments from the TD Phase for: (1) technology maturity, (2) performance of Critical Technology Element (CTEs) to meet CTPs or other performance parameter thresholds, and (3) adequacy of executing the “test plan” submitted for the TD Phase. The assessment (for TRLs for all CTEs) will be based on objective evidence gathered during events such as tests, demonstrations, pilots, or physics-based simulations. Based on the requirements, identified capabilities, system architecture, software architecture, CONOPS, and/or the concept of employment, the IRT (Integrated Requirements Team) will define operationally relevant environments and determine which TRL is supported by the objective evidence. This metric would evaluate the adequacy of the test/demonstration approach used for determining the CTPs for each CTE; i.e., the confidence the DASD(DT&E) has that the CTE was appropriately stressed and the TRL was accurately assessed. This confidence will be based on a number of factors assessed by comparing test and/or evaluation reports with the approved TEMPs. Some of those factors may include adequacy of:
- “Operationally relevant” environment and/or end-to-end mission simulation
- Instrumentation/facility/range/threat representation
- Skills of test personnel
- Number of test articles
- Interfaces and integration
- Human Systems Integration considerations
- Government participation
- Use of “design of experiments;” e.g., sample size determination
- M&S VV&A
- Support vehicles/systems/services
- Highest fidelity test resource used in the DoD test process
9.6.2. Milestone C Reporting
Development of an OSD position on the risk of a Milestone C approval for initiating the Production and Deployment (P&D) Phase should be based on: (1) the DT&E results from the preceding EMD phase, including consideration of how thoroughly the system was stressed during EMD (mission-oriented context and operationally realistic environments); and (2) adequacy of the DT&E planning for the remaining P&D phase. EMD phase DT results and evaluations extracted from DT&E reports, OA results if the OTA conducted one, and action officer observations from monitoring EMD phase DT&E and participating in Program Support Review(s) (PSRs), WIPT meetings, test readiness reviews, and data analysis working group meetings to provide the basis for assessing whether Milestone C entrance criteria were met. Reporting should permit OSD to determine the adequacy of the TEMP the PM submits for Milestone C, knowledge of the mission and operating environment requirements, and knowledge of both T&E infrastructure capabilities (including threat surrogates) and the projected threat at the time of program IOC, and provide the basis for assessing the adequacy of P&D phase DT&E planning. The assessment based on DT&E results should speak directly to the maturity of the system being developed and its readiness to advance to the P&D phase; the assessment based on P&D Phase DT&E planning speaks directly to the adequacy of the planned DT&E to deliver a system that will succeed in IOT&E, and for assessing and articulating the risk associated with an acquisition program proceeding into LRIP and the P&D phase.
Reporting should demonstrate, based on the DT&E and OA results of EMD, the degree of compliance for:
- Acceptable performance in DT&E and OA
- Mature software capability
- Acceptable interoperability
- Acceptable operational supportability
- IA certification and acceptance
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