The attached report contains the findings and recommendations of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Developmental Test and Evaluation. This study was challenged to investigate the causal factors for the high percentage of recent programs entering Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (lOT&E) that have been evaluated as not operationally effective and suitable.
The Task Force's principal finding was the practice of reliability growth methodology during system design and development was largely discontinued over the past 15 years. The study concluded that the single most important step to correct the high suitability failure rates is to ensure programs are formulated and funded to execute a viable systems engineering strategy that includes a robust reliability growth plan from inception.
