10.3. Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD)
IPPD is the Department of Defense (DoD) management technique that simultaneously integrates all essential acquisition activities through the use of multidisciplinary teams to optimize design, manufacturing, and supportability processes. One of the key IPPD tenets is multidisciplinary teamwork through Integrated Product Teams.
IPPD facilitates meeting cost and performance objectives from product concept through production, including field support. The 10 tenets of IPPD can be summarized into the following 5 principles:
- Customer Focus
- Concurrent Development of Products and Processes
- Early and Continuous Life-Cycle Planning
- Proactive Identification and Management of Risk
- Maximum Flexibility for Optimization and Use of Contractor Approaches
10.3.1. Role of Integrated Product Teams (IPTs)
Defense acquisition works best when all of the DoD Components work together. Cooperation and empowerment are essential. Per Department of Defense Directive 5000.01, the Department's acquisition community shall implement the concepts of Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) and IPTs as extensively as possible.
IPTs are an integral part of the Defense acquisition oversight and review process. For Acquisition Category (ACAT) ID and IAM programs, there are generally two levels of IPTs: the Working-Level Integrated Product Team (WIPT) and the Overarching Integrated Product Team (OIPT). Each program should have an OIPT and at least one WIPT. WIPTs should focus on a particular topic such as cost/performance, program baseline, acquisition strategy, test and evaluation, or contracting. An Integrating Integrated Product Team (IIPT), which is itself a WIPT, should coordinate WIPT efforts and cover all program topics, including those not otherwise assigned to another IPT. IPT participation is the primary way for any organization to participate in the acquisition program. IIPTs are essential for ACAT ID and IAM programs, in that they facilitate OSD Staff-level program insight into MDAPs and MAIS programs at the program level and provide the requisite input to the OIPT.
10.3.2. Overarching Integrating Product Team (OIPT) Procedures and Assessment
Normally, all Acquisition Category (ACAT) ID and IAM programs will have an OIPT to provide assistance, oversight, and review as the program proceeds through its acquisition life cycle.
10.3.2.1. Overarching Integrating Product Team (OIPT)
First and foremost, Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) OIPTs are teams expected to collectively assist the Defense Acquisition Executive (DAE) in making sound investment decisions for the Department and to ensure programs are structured and resourced to succeed. Success is defined as affordable, executable programs that provide the most value achievable for the resources invested by the Department.
OSD OIPTs are not decision bodies and their respective leaders do not supplant the authority and responsibilities of the Program Manager, Program Executive Officer, Component Acquisition Executive, or DAE. The acquisition chain of command is expected to thoroughly prepare programs for decisions and to execute those decisions. OSD OIPTs bring independent judgment and perspectives from various staff offices and provide a measure of due diligence in support of DAE decisions. They often bring different perspectives than the Components and should be concerned not only with the programmatic, technical, and business aspects of a program but also with critically examining and considering the program in the broader context to include joint portfolios, design and performance trade-space, overall risk (technology, integration/engineering, schedule, and cost), affordability, competitive opportunities, industrial base implications, and the nature of the business decision under consideration.
OSD OIPTs also have a key role in helping programs complete the requirements of the statutory and regulatory acquisition framework, much of which involves documentation the team members review in support of the decision process. Typically, these documents have been reviewed within a Service and at working levels of the OSD staff and Service staffs to ensure they reflect sound planning and assessments before they are submitted for final review. These documents should generally not be prepared solely for staff review and approval, but be intended primarily for use within the program as planning and management tools that are highly specific to the program and tailored to meet program needs. They should be prepared and reviewed with this goal in mind.
OSD OIPT meetings should be the culmination of the staffing process and lead to well-staffed and objectively presented decision options on any open issues for discussion at the Defense Acquisition Board review and subsequent acquisition decisions. To work effectively, all OIPT members should attempt to resolve issues at the lowest possible level.
To perform their work, OSD OIPTs and their members should have access to all the data necessary to do their jobs effectively. Program offices and Component staffs are expected to provide data needed to resolve issues and to support DAE decisions in a timely manner.
10.3.2.2. Overarching Integrating Product Team (OIPT) Leaders
For those programs where the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD(AT&L)) is the Milestone Decision Authority, OIPTs are a well-established and integral part of the defense acquisition oversight and milestone decision review process. While OIPTs are not decision-making bodies, they provide a mechanism to coordinate and conduct staff preparation for USD(AT&L) program decisions and to help execute those decisions.
There are currently five OIPT leaders in the Office of the Secretary of Defense that are responsible for broadly defined portfolios of programs and capabilities. Programs with the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics) (USD(AT&L)) as the Milestone Decision Authority are normally assigned to one of these OIPT leaders as the lead staff element with the broad responsibility for the program:
- Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) (Strategic and Tactical Systems)
- DASD (Space & Intelligence)
- DASD (Command, Control, Communications & Cyber)
- OIPT Leader for Defense Business Systems (Office of the Deputy Chief Management Officer)
- OIPT Leader for Nuclear, Chemical, & Biological Defense programs
10.3.2.2.1. Overarching Integrating Product Team (OIPT) Leaders’ Roles & Responsibilities
OSD OIPT leaders form and lead OIPTs to review the programs coming forward to the Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) for a Defense Acquisition Executive (DAE) decision. OIPT leaders also prepare content for discussions at DAB Planning Meetings and DAB Readiness Meetings in collaboration with the responsible Component, the DAB Executive Secretary, and any OIPT members with outstanding issues. OIPT Leaders are responsible for coordinating staff inputs, facilitating the resolution of issues at lower levels when possible, and for ensuring that objective and complete data is presented to the DAE in support of DAE decisions, including milestone decisions.
OSD OIPT leaders are expected, with the assistance of the OIPT members, to maintain good situational awareness of program execution status and, with the Component Acquisition Executives (CAEs) to keep the DAE informed of any program issues. The Defense Acquisition Executive Summary (DAES) process serves as one mechanism to monitor programs and elevate issues. DAES meetings are forums for sharing and learning across the senior levels of the acquisition community. However, OIPT leaders and OIPT members should not delay surfacing problems awaiting a DAES cycle. Bad news does not get better with age and the earlier issues are addressed, the greater the opportunity to remediate them. Similarly, good outcomes and best practices should also be reported and widely shared. Monitoring program execution should not generate unnecessary meetings, but rather, the evolving tools, data, and monitoring mechanisms that the Components and the Office of the Secretary of Defense have in place should accomplish this function. In general, and consistent with their responsibilities, OIPT leaders (and all staff members) should work to minimize the overhead burden placed on Program Managers. The OIPT leaders are also expected to track and monitor to successful completion all Acquisition Decision Memorandum-directed actions and notify the DAE of issues or events that would affect their completion.
In cases where there is substantive disagreement between staff members and a Component, the OIPT leader is expected to work with the relevant staff and Component to ensure the data necessary to support a decision is made available to the DAE and to quickly elevate the issues to be brought forward for decisions. In general the staff, including the OIPT leader, does not have directive authority over programs and issues should be elevated for decision when there is a disagreement that cannot be readily resolved. The OIPT leader should expedite this process so that programs are not delayed due to disagreements over issues. The OIPT leader may make a recommendation on any issue, but his or her fundamental responsibility is to objectively represent the views of the OIPT members from across OSD and the Services.
10.3.2.3. Overarching Integrating Product Team (OIPT) Member Roles & Responsibilities
Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) OIPT members should be empowered to represent their organization’s perspectives and make commitments on behalf of their technical domain, functional area, and organization.
OIPT members should proactively assist programs in implementing Better Buying Power Initiatives. In many cases, OIPT members will have knowledge of techniques or approaches that could promote competition, reduce costs, improve productivity, or reduce non-productive processes.
Members should raise issues at the earliest possible opportunity and work to resolve those issues expeditiously. It is a disservice to the programs and process for issues to remain hidden or for issues to arise unexpectedly at senior-level decision meetings such as the DAB. If an OIPT member feels an issue is not resolved satisfactorily, the DAE should be informed. OIPT members with differing views will be part of any discussion and afforded the opportunity to express their views with supporting information directly if desired. Any issue raised should be logically presented with appropriately detailed technical or other relevant data to allow for an informed decision.
Table 10.3.2.3.T1 below is a list of nominal organizational members for a typical OSD OIPT. Membership can be adjusted as appropriate by OIPT leaders.
Table 10.3.2.3.T1. Notional OIPT Membership
|
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff/J-8
|
Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Developmental Test and Evaluation
|
|
Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
|
Office of the Director for Chemical and Material Risk Management
|
|
Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)
|
Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy)
|
|
Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
|
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness
|
|
Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
|
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs
|
|
Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation
|
Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Research
|
|
Office of the Director, Cost Analysis and Program Evaluation
|
Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Systems Engineering
|
|
Office of the Director, Acquisition Resources and Analysis
|
Cognizant Program Executive Officer(s)
|
|
Office of the Director, Defense Pricing
|
Cognizant Program Manager
|
|
Office of the Director, Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy
|
Office of the Army Acquisition Executive
|
|
Office of the Director, Performance Assessment and Root Cause Analyses
|
Office of the Navy Acquisition Executive
|
|
Office of the Director, International Cooperation
|
Office of the Air Force Acquisition Executive
|
|
Office of the Chief Information Officer
|
|
10.3.2.4. Overarching Integrating Product Team (OIPT) Products
The cognizant OIPT leader will provide a written report to the Defense Acquisition Executive not more than 10 business days after the OIPT meeting and not less than 15 business days prior to a scheduled Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) date (i.e., well before the DAB Readiness Meeting). The OIPT Report will document an integrated program assessment that takes OIPT members’ independent assessments into consideration. It will also provide a recommendation for the decision(s) to be made and include a discussion of all unresolved issues. OIPT leaders will ensure all OIPT member perspectives and concerns (including dissenting views) are accurately represented. OIPT members, at their discretion, may provide attachments to the OIPT report reflecting their individual perspectives and recommendations and providing the basis for those views.
The OIPT leader will assist the Program Manager and Program Executive Officer in preparing program decision materials for the DAB. DAB briefings and supporting material should contain all the data necessary to support the pending decisions presented in a logical straightforward manner using the DAB templates as a starting point.
10.3.3. Integrating Integrated Product Team (IIPT) and Working-Level Integrated Product Team (WIPT) Procedures, Roles, and Responsibilities
The Program Manager (PM), or designee, in collaboration with the OSD staff specialists from the offices of the OIPT Leader and other key stakeholders for the assigned program, should collaboratively form IIPTs and WIPTs as necessary. IIPTs and WIPTs should meet only as required to help the program manager plan program structure and documentation and resolve issues. While there is no one-size-fits-all WIPT approach, the following basic tenets should apply:
- The PM is in charge of the program.
- IIPTs and WIPTs are advisory bodies to the PM.
- IIPTs are also advisory bodies to the OIPT.
- Direct communication between the program office and all levels in the acquisition oversight and review process is expected as a means of exchanging information and building trust.
10.3.3.1. Industry Participation
Industry representatives may be invited to a Working-Level Integrated Product Team (WIPT) or Integrating Integrated Product Team (IIPT) meeting to provide information, advice, and recommendations to the IPT; however, the following policy should govern their participation:
- Industry representatives will not be formal members of the IPT.
- Industry participation will be consistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
- Industry representatives may not be present during IPT deliberations on acquisition strategy or competition sensitive matters, nor during any other discussions that would give them a marketing or competitive advantage.
- At the beginning of each meeting, the IPT chair should introduce each industry representative, including their affiliation, and their purpose for attending.
- The chair should inform the IPT members of the need to restrict discussions while industry representatives are in the room, and/or the chair should request the industry representatives to leave before matters are discussed that are inappropriate for them to hear.
- Support contractors may participate in WIPTs and IIPTs, but unless specifically authorized by the organization they represent, they may not commit the staff organization they support to a specific position. The organizations they support are responsible for ensuring the support contractors are employed in ways that do not create the potential for a conflict of interest. Contractors supporting staff organizations may participate in Overarching Integrated Product Team (OIPT) discussions; however, they will not be permitted to represent the position of the supported organization and they may be asked to sign non-disclosure statements prior to deliberations.
Given the sensitive nature of OIPT discussions, industry representatives and support contractors may not be permitted to participate in certain OIPT discussions. However, the OIPT leader may permit contractors to make presentations to the OIPT, when such views will better inform the OIPT and will not involve the contractors directly in Government decision making.
DAG Tutorial 
