Army Acquisiton - Benchmarking for Improvement

69 Pages·2006·0.84 MB·English

by  Kristi L. Keeler

U.S. Army Acquisition –
The Program Office
Perspective

Kristi L. Keeler

October 2005

SPECIAL REPORT
CMU/SEI-2005-SR-014

Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
U.S. Army Acquisition –
The Program Office
Perspective

CMU/SEI-2005-SR-014

Kristi L. Keeler

October 2005

Acquisition Support Program
Unlimited distribution subject to the copyright.
This report was prepared for the
SEI Administrative Agent
ESC/XPK
5 Eglin Street
Hanscom AFB, MA 01731-2100
The ideas and findings in this report should not be construed as an official DoD position. It is published in the
interest of scientific and technical information exchange.
This work is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense. The Software Engineering Institute is a
federally funded research and development center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Copyright 2005 Carnegie Mellon University.
NO WARRANTY
THIS CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY AND SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE MATERIAL IS
FURNISHED ON AN "AS-IS" BASIS. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY MAKES NO WARRANTIES
OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AS TO ANY MATTER INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR PURPOSE OR MERCHANTABILITY, EXCLUSIVITY, OR
RESULTS OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE MATERIAL. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY DOES
NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO FREEDOM FROM PATENT,
TRADEMARK, OR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT.
Use of any trademarks in this report is not intended in any way to infringe on the rights of the trademark holder.
Internal use. Permission to reproduce this document and to prepare derivative works from this document for internal use is
granted, provided the copyright and "No Warranty" statements are included with all reproductions and derivative works.
External use. Requests for permission to reproduce this document or prepare derivative works of this document for external
and commercial use should be addressed to the SEI Licensing Agent.
This work was created in the performance of Federal Government Contract Number FA8721-05-C-0003 with Carnegie
Mellon University for the operation of the Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development
center. The Government of the United States has a royalty-free government-purpose license to use, duplicate, or disclose the
work, in whole or in part and in any manner, and to have or permit others to do so, for government purposes pursuant to the
copyright license under the clause at 252.227-7013.
For information about purchasing paper copies of SEI reports, please visit the publications portion of our Web site
(http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/pubweb.html).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................v
Executive Summary................................................................................................vii
Abstract.....................................................................................................................ix
1 Introduction.......................................................................................................1
1.1 The Army Strategic Software Improvement Program.................................1
1.1.1 Survey of Acquisition Managers.....................................................3
1.1.2 Program Executive Officer Interviews.............................................3
2 Method Description..........................................................................................5
2.1 The BFI Method..........................................................................................5
2.2 Benefits of the BFI Method.........................................................................7
2.3 Potential for BFI Method Improvements.....................................................8
3 The BFI Results...............................................................................................11
3.1 Theme: Risk Management........................................................................12
3.1.1 What Was Found..........................................................................12
3.1.2 What Could Be Improved..............................................................12
3.1.3 An Exemplary Implementation......................................................13
3.2 Theme: Acquisition Process – Traditional vs. New Mandates..................13
3.2.1 What Was Found..........................................................................13
3.2.2 What Can Be Improved.................................................................14
3.3 Theme: Oversight.....................................................................................14
3.3.1 What Was Found..........................................................................14
3.3.2 What Can Be Improved.................................................................15
3.4 Theme: Staff Skills....................................................................................15
3.4.1 What Was Found..........................................................................15
3.4.2 What Can Be Improved.................................................................16
3.4.3 Suggested Improvement...............................................................16
3.5 Theme: Policy...........................................................................................16
3.5.1 What Was Found..........................................................................17
3.5.2 What Can Be Improved.................................................................17
3.5.3 Suggested Improvement...............................................................18
CMU/SEI-2005-SR-014 i
3.6 Theme: Career Development...................................................................18
3.6.1 What We Found............................................................................18
3.6.2 What Can Be Improved................................................................18
3.6.3 Suggested Improvement...............................................................18
3.7 Theme: Integrated Product Teams...........................................................19
3.7.1 What Was Found..........................................................................19
3.7.2 What Can Be Improved................................................................19
4 Next Steps.......................................................................................................21
4.1 Analyzing the Findings.............................................................................21
4.2 Using the Findings....................................................................................22
4.3 Issues Related to Information Processing................................................22
5 Summary.........................................................................................................25
Feedback.................................................................................................................27
Appendix A Acronyms and Abbreviations.........................................................29
Appendix B Benchmarking for Improvement Interview Questions.................31
References...............................................................................................................53

ii CMU/SEI-2005-SR-014
List of Figures
Figure 1: ASSIP Uses Improved Acquisition Processes to Yield Better Results.....2
Figure 2: BFI Method Synopsis...............................................................................6
Figure 3: Analysis of BFI Findings.........................................................................21
Figure 4: CMMI-AM Process Areas.......................................................................33

CMU/SEI-2005-SR-014 iii
iv CMU/SEI-2005-SR-014
Acknowledgements
The author appreciates the untiring efforts of Stephen Blanchette, Jr. and Cecilia Albert of the
Carnegie Mellon® Software Engineering Institute (SEI), and Dr. James Linnehan of the Of-
fice of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. Their
persistent and thoughtful comments greatly improved the quality of this report. The author
also wishes to acknowledge the editorial assistance of the SEI’s Susan Kushner.
Lastly, this work would not have been possible without the diligent efforts of the Department
of Army Program Managers that allowed us to disrupt their schedule-sensitive days for inter-
views and the team of SEI staff that works for the Department of Army initiative. This group
includes the BFI interviewers: SEI staff members Frank Sisti, Peter Capell, Ira Monarch,
Benjamin Snyder, Lisa Brownsword, Kate Ambrose, Craig Meyers, Diane Gibson, and Wil-
liam Novak, and SEI visiting scientists Thomas Miller and John Mishler. Their notes and
observations helped form the basis of the information presented here. Thank you all.

® Carnegie Mellon is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by Carnegie Mellon
University.
CMU/SEI-2005-SR-014 v
vi CMU/SEI-2005-SR-014