Dictionary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W
Acronym	Title	Definition
A
	Acceptance	The act of an authorized representative of the government by which the government, for itself or as agent of another, assumes ownership of existing identified supplies tendered, or approves specific services rendered, as partial or complete performance of the contract on the part of the contractor.
AA	Achieved Availability	Availability of a system with respect to operating time and both corrective and preventive maintenance. It ignores Mean Logistics Delay Time (MLDT) and may be calculated as Mean Time Between Maintenance (MTBM) divided by the sum of MTBM and Mean Maintenance Time (MMT), that is, AA = MTBM/(MTBM + MMT). See Mean Time Between Maintenance (MTBM), Mean Logistics Delay Time (MLDT), and Mean Maintenance Time (MMT).
APB	Acquisition Program Baseline	The APB is developed by the program manager before the initiation of a program and depicts the current condition of a program. The plan states the threshold and objective values for the cost, schedule and performance requirements for a program.
ACAT	Acquisition Category	The acquisition process divides acquisition programs into four categories depending on funding amount, size and importance.
ADM	Acquisition Decision Memorandum	The ADM documents the decisions made by the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) during a Milestone Decision Review.
	Acquisition Environment	Internal and external factors that impact on, and help shape, every defense acquisition program. Often these factors work at opposite extremes and contradict each other. The factors include political forces, policies, regulations, reactions to unanticipated requirements, and emergencies.
	Acquisition Executives	The individual, within the Department and components, charged with overall acquisition management responsibilities within his or her respective organization.
	Acquisition Logistics	Technical and management activities conducted to ensure supportability implications are considered early and throughout the acquisition process to minimize support costs and to provide the user with the resources to sustain the system in the field.
	Acquisition Management	Management of any or all of the activities within the broad spectrum of “acquisition,” as defined above. Also includes training of the Defense Acquisition Workforce and activities in support of the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) Process for defense acquisition systems/programs. For acquisition programs this term is synonymous with program management.
	Acquisition Manager	Persons responsible at different levels for some activity related to developing, producing, and/or fielding an Automated Information System (AIS) or weapon system. Includes senior-level managers responsible for ultimate decisions, program managers (PMs), and commodity or functional-area managers.
	Acquisition Phase	All the tasks and activities needed to bring a program to the next major milestone occur during an acquisition phase. Phases provide a logical means of progressively translating broadly stated capabilities into well-defined, system-specific requirements and ultimately into operationally effective, suitable, and survivable systems.
	Acquisition Strategy	The Acquisition Strategy is a comprehensive plan that identifies and describes the acquisition approach that management will follow to manage program risks and meet program objectives.
	Acquisition Plan	An Acquisition Plan is a plan that documents all cost, schedule, technical, business, management, and other considerations that will govern an acquisition program. It summarizes the acquisition planning discussions and identifies milestones in the acquisition process.
	Acquisition Program	A directed, funded effort that provides a new, improved, or continuing materiel, weapon, or information system or service capability in response to an approved need. Acquisition programs are divided into categories that are established to facilitate decentralized decision making, execution, and compliance with statutory requirements.
APB	Acquisition Program Baseline	Baseline that reflects the threshold and objective values for the minimum number of cost, schedule, and performance attributes that describe the program over its life cycle. Cost values reflect the life cycle cost estimate (LCCE); scheduled dates include key activities such as milestones and the Initial Operational Capability (IOC); and performance attributes reflect the operational performance required for the fielded system. Key Performance Parameters (KPPs) from the Capability Development Document (CDD) and Capability Production Document (CPD) are copied verbatim into the APB. The Key System Attributes (KSAs) from the CDD and CPD that support the Sustainment KPP are also reflected in the APB. Other significant performance parameters may be added by the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA). See Key Performance Parameters (KPPs), Key System Attributes (KSAs), and Initial Operational Capability (IOC). (Defense Acquisition Guidebook and JCIDS Manual)
	Acquisition Strategy	A business and technical management approach designed to achieve program objectives within the resource constraints imposed. It is the framework for planning, directing, contracting for, and managing a program. It provides a master schedule for research, development, test, production, fielding, modification, post-production management, and other activities essential for program success. The acquisition strategy is the basis for formulating functional plans and strategies (e.g., Test and Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP), Acquisition Plan (AP), competition, systems engineering, etc.).
	Acquisition Streamlining	Any effort that results in a more efficient and effective use of resources to design, develop, or produce quality systems. This includes ensuring that only necessary and cost-effective requirements are included, at the most appropriate time in the acquisition cycle, in solicitations and resulting contracts for the design, development, and production of new systems, or for modifications to existing systems that involve redesign of systems or subsystems.
	Activity Repair Time	The person responsible for taking action on a project, for coordination of all staff activities, and assembling the action package for decision by higher authority.
ACWP	Actual Cost of Work Performed	The costs actually incurred and recorded in accomplishing the work performed within a given time period.
ACO	Administrative Contracting Officer	The government contracting officer (CO) who is responsible for government contracts administration.
	Advanced Funding	Budget Authority (BA) provided in an appropriation act that allows funds to be committed to a specific purpose (obligated) and spent during that Fiscal Year (FY) even though the appropriation is actually for the next FY. Advance funding is generally used to avoid requests for supplemental appropriations for entitlement programs late in a FY when the appropriations for the current FY are too low.
AP	Advance Procurement	Authority provided in an appropriations act to obligate and disburse during a Fiscal Year (FY) before that in which the related end item is procured. The funds are added to the Budget Authority (BA) for the FY and deducted from the BA of the succeeding FY. Used in major acquisition programs to obtain components whose long lead time (LLT) requires early purchase in order to reduce the overall Procurement Lead Time (PLT) of the major end item. AP of long-lead components is an exception to the DoD “full funding” policy and must be part of the President’s Budget (PB) request.
ATD	Advanced Technology Demonstration	A demonstration of the maturity and potential of advanced technologies for enhanced military operational capability or cost effectiveness. ATDs are identified, sponsored, and funded by Services and agencies. (CJCSI 6212.01E)
ATD	Advanced Technology Development	Budget Activity (BA) 3 within a research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation account that includes development of subsystems and components and efforts to integrate subsystems and components into system prototypes for field experiments and/or tests in a simulated environment. ATD also includes Concept and Technology Demonstrations (CTDs) of components and subsystems or system models.
	Affordability	A determination that the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of an acquisition program is in consonance with the long-range investment and force structure plans of the DoD or individual DoD components.
	Allocated Cost	A cost is allocable to a government contract if it (a) is incurred specifically for the contract; (b) benefits both the contract and other work, and can be distributed to them in reasonable proportion to the benefits received; or (c) is necessary to the overall operation of the business, although a direct relationship to any particular cost objective cannot be shown. (FAR, section 31.201)
	Allocated Baseline	Documentation that designates the Configuration Items (CIs) making up a system and then allocates the system function and performance requirements across the CIs (hence the term “allocated baseline”).
	Allocation	An authorization, by a DoD component designated official, making funds available within a prescribed amount to an operating agency for the purpose of making allotments (i.e., the first subdivision of an apportionment).
	Allotment	An authorization by either the agency head or another authorized employee to incur obligations within a specific amount. Each agency makes allotments pursuant to specific procedures it establishes within the general requirements of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-11, Part 4. The amount allotted cannot exceed the amount apportioned. See Apportionment.
	Allowable Cost	Several factors are considered when deciding whether a cost is allowable on a government contract. These factors include reasonableness; allocability; standards promulgated by the Cost Accounting Standards Board (CASB), if applicable, otherwise, generally accepted accounting principles and practices; and terms of the contract. (FAR, section 31.201) See Allocable Cost and Reasonable Cost.
	Allowance	A time increment included in the standard time for an operation to compensate the worker for production lost as a result of fatigue and normally expected interruptions, such as personal, and unavoidable delays.
AMS	Alternative Materiel Solution	Alternative Materiel Solutions are examined as part of an Alternative Solutions Review (ASR).
ASR	Alternative Solutions Review	An ASR is a technical review that assesses the preliminary materiel solutions that have been developed during the Materiel Solution Analysis phase.
AoA	Analysis of Alternatives	An AoA is an analytical comparison of the operational effectiveness, suitability, and life-cycle cost of alternatives materiel solution that satisfy an established capability need identified in an ICD.
	Appeal Process	A request for reconsideration of an action taken to adjust, reduce, or delete funding for an item during the congressional review of the defense budget (authorization and appropriation).
	Applied Research	Budget Activity (BA) 2 with a research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation account. It translates promising basic research into solutions for broadly defined military needs and includes studies, investigations, and non-system specific technology efforts. It may also include design, development, and improvement of prototypes and new processes to meet general mission area requirements. Program elements funded under this BA typically involve pre-Milestone B efforts. (DoD 7000.14-R) See Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation(RDT&E) Budget Activities (BAs).
	Apportionment	A distribution made by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of amounts available for obligation in an appropriation or fund account into amounts available for specified time periods, programs, activities, projects, objects, or any combinations of these. The apportioned amount limits the obligations that may be incurred. An apportionment may be further subdivided by an agency into allotments, suballotments, and allocations. (OMB Circular A-11)
	Appropriation	Statutory authority provided by an act of Congress that permits Federal agencies to incur obligations and make payments from the Treasury.
	Approved Project	A cooperative project under Title 22 U.S.C. § 2767 that has DoD component approval for implementation, or a cooperative research and development (R&D) project under Title 10 U.S.C. § 2350a that has the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) approval for implementation, before any formal agreements have been negotiated or concluded and funds are released.
	Architecture	The structure of components, their interrelationships, and the principal guidelines governing their design and evolution over time. (JCIDS Manual)
	Armed Services Committees	Standing committees of the Senate and House, respectively, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the House Armed Services Committee (HASC). They authorize DoD programs and conduct oversight.
AECB	Arms Export Control Board	An interagency board, chaired by the Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance (Science and Technology (S&T)), that serves to advise the Secretary of State on matters relating to security assistance program levels and arms transfer policies.
	Assembler	A computer program that translates assembly language programs into their machine language equivalents.
	Assemby Language	A programming language that corresponds closely to the instruction set of a given computer. Typically used for those portions of real-time systems that must be highly optimized in some dimension (e.g., time or memory). Since assembly language is hardware-dependent, its use must be carefully controlled.
	Audit	Systematic examination of records and documents to determine adequacy and effectiveness of budgeting, accounting, financial, and related policies and procedures; compliance with applicable statutes, regulations, policies, and prescribed procedures; reliability, accuracy, and completeness of financial and administrative records and reports; and the extent to which funds and other resources are properly protected and effectively used.
	Authorization	An act of Congress that permits a federal program or activity to begin or continue from year to year. It sets limits on funds that can be appropriated, but does not grant funding which must be provided by a separate congressional appropriation.
	Availability	A measure of the degree to which an item is in an operable state and can be committed at the start of a mission when the mission is called for at an unknown (random) point in time. See Inherent Availability, Materiel Avalability, Achieved Availability, and Operational Availability (AO).
APUC	Average Procurement Unit Cost	APUC is calculated by dividing total procurement cost by the number of articles to be procured. Total procurement cost includes flyaway, rollaway, sailaway cost (that is, recurring and nonrecurring costs associated with production of the item such as hardware/software, systems engineering (SE), engineering changes and warranties) plus the costs of procuring technical data (TD), training, support equipment, and initial spares.
B
	Ball Par Estimate	Very rough estimate (usually cost estimate), but with some knowledge and confidence. (“Somewhere in the ball park.”)
	Baseline	Defined quantity or quality used as starting point for subsequent efforts and progress measurementthat can be a technical, cost, or schedule baseline. See Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS) and Acquisition Program Baseline (APB).
	Baselining	A process whereby all managers concerned collectively agree on the specific description of the program, requirements, and funding; and make a commitment to manage the program along those guidelines.
BOA	Basic Ordering Agreement	An instrument of understanding (not a contract) executed between a procuring activity and a contractor that sets forth negotiated contract clauses that will be applicable to future procurements between the parties during the term of the agreement.
	Basic Research	Budget Activity (BA) 1 within a research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation account that funds scientific study and experimentation directed toward increasing fundamental knowledge and understanding in those fields of the physical, engineering, environmental, and life sciences related to long-term national security needs. Program elements (PEs) funded under the BA typically involve pre-Milestone A efforts. (DoD 7000.14-R)
BOIP	Basis of Issue Plan	Document that establishes the distribution of new equipment and associated support items of equipment and personnel, as well as the reciprocal displacement of equipment and personnel. (Army)
	Budgeting	The Budgeting phase includes formulation, justification, execution, and control of the budget.
	Benchmarking	Benchmarking is the process of comparing one’s business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and/or best practices from other industries.
BLRIP	Beyond Low Rate Initial Production Report	The Beyond Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Report is a report generated before the Full Rate Production Decision Review by the office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation and provided to the Secretary of Defense, Under Secretary (AT&L) and the armed services committees of Congress. The report is directed by 10 U.S.C. 2399 and is intended to evaluate the results of Service Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) for a Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP).
	Biennial Budget	The Fiscal Year (FY) 1986 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) required the submission of 2-year budgets for DoD beginning with FY 1988/1989. A biennial budget, as currently structured, represents program budget estimates for a 2-year period in which FY requirements remain separate and distinct. Regardless, the Congress only appropriates Budget Authority (BA) on an annual basis.
	Brassboard Configuration	An experimental device (or group of devices) used to determine feasibility and to develop technical and operational data. It normally will be a model sufficiently hardened for use outside of laboratory environments to demonstrate the technical and operational principles of immediate interest. It may resemble the end item, but it is not intended for use as the end item.
	Breadboard Configuration	An experimental device (or group of devices) used to determine feasibility and to develop technical data (TD). It normally will be configured for laboratory use only to demonstrate the technical principles of immediate interest. It may not resemble the end item and is not intended for use as the projected end item.
	Budget	A comprehensive financial plan for the federal government encompassing the totality of federal receipts and outlays (expenditures). Budget documents routinely include the on budget and off budget amounts and combine them to derive a total of federal fiscal activity, with a focus on combined totals. Also a plan of operations for a fiscal period in terms of estimated costs, obligations, and expenditures; source of funds for financing, including anticipated reimbursements and other resources; and history and workload data for the projected program and activities.
BA	Budget Activity	Categories within each appropriation and fund account that identify the purposes, projects, or types of activities financed by the appropriation or fund. See Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) Budget Activities (BAs).
BA	Budget Authority	Authority provided by law to enter into obligations that will result in immediate or future outlays. It may be classified by the period of availability, by the timing of congressional action, or by the manner of determining the amount available.
	Budget Estimate	Cost estimate prepared for inclusion in the DoD budget to support acquisition programs.
	Budget Estimate Submission	The DoD component’s budget submissions to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) showing budget requirements for inclusion in the DoD budget during the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) process. See On-Year and Off-Year.
	Budgeted Cost	The sum of the budgets for completed work packages and portions of open work packages, plus the appropriate portion of budgets for Level of Effort (LOE) and apportioned effort.
BCWP	Budgeted Cost of Work Performed	A measurement of the work completed (in Earned Value Management (EVM) terminology). BCWP is the value of work performed, or “earned,” when compared to the original plan; that is, the Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS). The BCWP is called the Earned Value.
BCWS	Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled	The sum of the budgets for all work (work packages, planning packages, etc.), scheduled to be accomplished (including in-process work packages), plus the amount of Level of Effort (LOE) and apportioned effort scheduled to be accomplished within a given time period. Also called the Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB).
	Burden	Costs that cannot be attributed or assigned to a system as direct cost. An alternative term for Overhead.
BCA	Business Case Analysis	An expanded cost/benefit analysis created with the intent of determining a best-value solution for product support. Alternatives weigh total cost against total benefits to arrive at the optimum solution.
	Buy American Act	Provides that the U.S. government generally give preference to domestic end products. (Title 10 U.S.C. § 41 A D). This preference is accorded during the price evaluation process by applying punitive evaluation factors to most foreign products. Subsequently modified (relaxed) by Culver Nunn Amendment (1977) and other 1979 trade agreements for dealing with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Allies.
C
CBA	Capabilities Based Assessment	The CBA defines the operational framework and the Combatant Commander’s priorities sufficiently to guide development of alternative materiel and sustainment solutions.
CDD	Capability Development Document	The CDD specifies the operational requirements for the system that will deliver the capability that meets operational performance criteria specified in the Initial Capabilities Document (ICD).
CMMI	Capability Maturity Model Integration	CMMI integrates a number of disciplines into a unified model useful for process improvement. Three domain variations (so-called “CMMI constellations”) of the CMMI exist: one for development organizations (CMMI-DEV), one for acquisition organizations (CMMI-ACQ), and one for service-type organizations (CMMI-SVC). All the models share a common set of core processes with additional processes added as appropriate for the domain.
CPD	Capability Production Document	The CPD captures the information necessary to support production, testing, and deployment of an affordable and supportable increment within an acquisition strategy.
	Charter	Provides authority to conduct the program within cost, schedule, and performance constraints approved by the decision authority. Establishes manpower resources for the program office (PO) and includes assignment of personnel to perform the functions of technical management/systems engineering, logistics, business, and financial management, as well as the designation of a contracting officer (CO). It also defines the PM’s line of authority and reporting channels.
CIO	Chief Information Officer	An executive agency official responsible for providing advice and other assistance to the head of the executive agency to ensure that information technology (IT) is acquired and information resources are managed for the executive agency according to statute; developing, maintaining, and facilitating the implementation of a sound and integrated Information Technology Architecture (ITA) for the executive agency; and promoting the effective and efficient design and operation of all major information resources management processes for the executive agency, including improvements to work processes of the executive agency. The CIO for DoD is the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration (ASD(NII)).
CCA	Clinger-Cohen Act	Initially, Division D and Division E of the 1996 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Division D of the Authorization Act was the Federal Acquisition Reform Act (FARA) and Division E was the Information Technology Management Reform Act (ITMRA). Both divisions of the act made significant changes to defense acquisition policy. The provisions of this act have been incorporated in Title 40 and Title 44 of the U.S. Code.
COTS	Commercial off-the-Shelf (COTS)	COTS item is one that is sold, leased, or licensed to the general public; offered by a vendor trying to profit from it; supported and evolved by the vendor who retains the Intellectual Property (IP) rights; available in multiple, identical copies; and used without modification of the internals.
CDRL	Contract Data Requirements List	CDRL is a list of authorized data requirements for a specific procurement that forms a part of the contract. It is comprised of either a single DD Form 1423, or a series of DD Forms 1423 containing data requirements and delivery information. The CDRL is the standard format for identifying potential data requirements in a solicitation, and deliverable data requirements in a contract.
	Corrective Maintenance Time	Corrective Maintenance Time is the time that begins with the observance of a malfunction of an item and ends when the item is restored to a satisfactory operating condition. It may be subdivided into active maintenance time and non-active maintenance time. It does not necessarily contribute to equipment or system downtime in cases of alternate modes of operation or redundancy.
CAPE	Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation	Organization established to conduct independent cost estimates for major defense acquisition programs (MDAPs) and to serve as the principal advisor to the appropriate Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) on matters of program life-cycle cost (LCC). Reports to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Director for Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE).
CAIV	Cost As a Independent Variable	Methodology used to acquire and operate affordable DoD systems by setting aggressive, achievable Life Cycle Cost (LCC) objectives and managing achievement of these objectives by trading off performance and schedule as necessary. Cost objectives balance mission needs with projected out-year resources, taking into account anticipated process improvements in both DoD and industry.
CARD	Cost Analysis Requirements Description	A description of the salient features of the acquisition program and of the system itself. It is the common description of the technical and programmatic features of the program that is used bythe teams preparing the Program Office Estimate (POE), Component Cost Estimate (CCE), and independent Life Cycle Cost Estimates (LCCEs).
CPA	Chairman’s Program Assessment	Provides a personal appraisal from the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), on alternative program recommendations and budget proposals to the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF). The CPA comments on the risk associated with the programmed allocation of defense resources and evaluates conformance of program objective memoranda to the priorities established in strategic plans and combatant commanders’ (CCDRs’) priority requirements. (CJCSI 8501.01A)
CAAC	Civilian Agency Acquisition Council	One of two councils authorized to make changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).
CCA	Clinger-Cohen Act	Requirement for all programs that acquire information technology (IT), including national security systems (NSS), that the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) not initiate a program or an increment of a program, or approve entry into any phase of the acquisition process, or that the DoD component not award a contract until the sponsoring DoD component or program manager (PM) has satisfied the requirements of Title 40/CCA.
COTS	Commercially Available Off-The-Shelf	A commercial item (CI) sold in substantial quantities in the commercial marketplace and offered to the government under a contract or subcontract at any tier, without modification, in the same form in which it was sold in the marketplace. This definition does not include bulk cargo such as agricultural products or petroleum. (FAR, subpart 2.101)
CCE	Component Cost Estimate	The generic term “DoD Component Cost Estimate” is used to provide considerable latitude to each military service or defense agency as to the actual responsibility for this cost estimate. In some cases, a military service assigns the responsibility to the program office (PO), which then provides a Program Office Life-Cycle Cost Estimate (PLCCE).
CONOPS	Concept of Operations	A CONOPS is a verbal or graphic statement of a commander’s assumptions or intent in regard to an operation or series of operations to give an overall picture of an operation.
	Concurrency	Part of an acquisition strategy that would combine or overlap phases (such as Technology Development (TD) and Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD)) or activities (such as Development Testing (DT) and Operational Testing (OT)).
	Configuration Management (CM)	CM is the application of sound program practices to establish and maintain consistency of a product’s or system’s attributes with its requirements and evolving technical baseline over its life.
	Configuration Management Plan	The overall objective of the Configuration Management (CM) Plan is to document and inform project stakeholders about CM within a project, what CM tools will be used, and how they will be applied by the project. The CM Plan details the methodology that the Program Manager and systems engineer will used to control program documentations and the program baseline (Technical, Functional and Allocated).
CRL	Contract Data Requirements List	A DD Form 1423 list of contract data requirements that are authorized for a specific acquisition and made a part of the contract.
	Cost-Based Budget	A budget based on the cost of goods and services to be received during a given period whether paid for or not before the end of the period. Not to be confused with an expenditure-based budget, this is based on the cost paid for goods and services received.
	Cost-Reimbursement Contracts	Cost-reimbursement types of contracts provide for payment of allowable incurred costs, to the extent prescribed in the contract
CDR	Critical Design Review	A CDR is a multi-disciplined technical review to ensure that a system can proceed into fabrication, demonstration, and test and can meet stated performance requirements within cost, schedule, and risk.
CPM	Critical Path Method	A technique that aids understanding of the dependency of events in a project and the time required to complete them. Activities that, when delayed, have an impact on the total project schedule are critical and said to be on the critical path (CP).
CTE	Critical Technology Element	A CTE is a new or novel technology that a platform or system depends on to achieve successful development or production or to successfully meet a system operational threshold requirement
CTP	Critical Technical Parameter	CTP are measurable critical system characteristics that, when achieved, enable the attainment of desired operational performance capabilities.
D
DMEA	Damage Mode and Effects Analysis	The analysis of a system or piece of equipment conducted to determine the extent of damage sustained from the given level of hostile weapon damage mechanisms and the effect of such damage modes on the continued controlled operation and mission completion capabilities of the system or equipment.
	Data Call	In response to a program manager’s (PM’s) data call, Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL) candidate items are developed by persons with data needs. Most are developed to fit under standard Data Item Descriptions (DIDs).
DMS	Data Management Strategy	Addresses all forms of recorded information, regardless of the method of recording, and includes both government and contractor-created data. The DMS must be approved and integrated in the Acquisition Strategy and integrated with other life cycle sustainment planning prior to issuing a contract solicitation. Acquisition Category (ACAT) I and II programs must submit a DMS prior to each milestone review as part of the Acquisition Strategy. (DoDI 5000.02)
	Decision Points	As defined and established by DoDI 5000.02, there are four decision points contained in the Defense Acquisition Management System (DAMS) of phases, milestones and decision points.
DAB	Defense Acquisition Board	The DAB is the senior advisory board for the DoD acquisition system.
DAE	Defense Acquisition Executive	The individual responsible for supervising the Defense Acquisition System. The DAE takes precedence on all acquisition matters after the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) and the Deputy Secretary of Defense (DEPSECDEF). (DoDD 5000.01). See Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD(AT&L)).
DAES	Defense Acquisition Executive Summary	DAES is the principal mechanism for tracking programs between milestone reviews. A DAES report is provided by the program manager (PM) of a Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP) to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD(AT&L)) each calendar quarter.
DAG	Defense Acquisition Guidebook	Provides staff expectation, notional document formats (e.g., the Test and Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP)), best practices, and lessons learned.
DAMIR	Defense Acquisition Management Information Retrieval (DAMIR) system	A personal computer-based data entry and reporting system combining common and unique Defense Acquisition Executive Summary (DAES), Selected Acquisition Report (SAR), and Acquisition Program Baseline (APB) components into a unified database from which DAES and SAR reports and APB documents can be printed. Access is restricted to DoD users that have a DAMIR account.
DAMS	Defense Acquisition Management System	The life of an acquisition program consists of phases, each preceded by a milestone or decision point, during which a system goes through research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E); production; fielding or deployment; sustainment; and disposal. Currently, the five phases are: 1.) Materiel Solution Analysis (MSA); 2.) Technology Development (TD); 3.) Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD); 4.) Production and Deployment (P&D); and 5.) Operations and Support (O&S). (DoDI 5000.02) See Milestone and Decision Points.
	Defense Acquisition Regulations (DAR) Council	The DAR Council is one of two councils authorized to generate changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). The Director of the DAR Council is the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD(AT&L)). Its members include representatives from the military departments, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
DCA	Defense Contract Management Agency	Independent combat support agency within the DoD that performs the contract administration function.
	Design Synthesis	Design Synthesis is the process of taken the functional architecture developed in the Functional Analysis and Allocation step and decomposing those functions into a physical architecture (a set of product, system, and/or software elements) that satisfy system required functions.
DT&E	Development Test and Evaluation	DT&E is conducted throughout the acquisition process to assist in engineering design and development and to verify that technical performance specifications have been met.
	DOTMLPF Analysis	Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership and Education, Personnel, and Facilities (DOTMLPF) analysis determines/recommends if a nonmaterial approach or a materiel approach is required to fill a capability gap identified in the Functional Needs Analysis (FNA)
DIEA	DoD Information Enterprise Architecture	The DIEA provides a common foundation to support DoD transformation to net-centric operations and establishes priorities to address critical barriers to its realization.
DITSR	Defense Information Technology Standards Registry	An online repository for a minimal set of primarily commercial information technology (IT) standards.
DPAS	Defense Priorities and Allocations System	A regulation administered by the Department of Commerce (DoC) that implements the priorities and allocations authority (Title 1) contained in the Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950 with respect to industrial resources. The purpose of DPAS is to ensure the timely availability of industrial resources to meet national defense and emergency preparedness requirements.
	Deferral of Budget Authority	Temporary withholding or delaying the obligation or expenditure of BA or any type of executive action that effectively precludes the obligation or expenditure of BA. BA may be deferred to provide for contingencies, to achieve savings or greater efficiency in the operations of government, or as otherwise specified by law. BA may not be deferred in order to affect a policy in lieu of one established by law or for any other reason. Deferrals must be communicated to Congress by the President in a special message.
	Deficiency	1.) Operational need minus existing and planned capability. The degree of inability to successfully accomplish one or more mission tasks or functions required to achieve mission or mission area objectives. Deficiencies might arise from changing mission objectives, opposing threat systems, changes in the environment, obsolescence, or depreciation in current military assets. 2.) In contract management, any part of a proposal that fails to satisfy the government’s requirements.
	Definitization	The agreement on or determination of contract terms, specifications, and price, which converts the undefinitized contract action to a definitive contract. (DFARS, subpart 217.7401(b))
	Demonstration & Validation	Research and Development (R&D) category 04 under Major Force Program (MFP) 6 of the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP). Includes all efforts necessary to evaluate integrated technologies in as realistic an operating environment as possible to assess the performance or cost reduction potential of advanced technology. This category is system specific and also includes advanced technology demonstrations (ATDs) that help expedite technology transition from the laboratory to operational use. A logical progression of program phases and funding (development and/or production) must be evident.
DoDAF	Department of Defense Architecture Framework	Defines a common approach for DoD architecture description, development, presentation, and integration for both warfighting operations and business operations and processes. The Framework is intended to ensure that architectural descriptions can be compared and related across organizational boundaries, including joint and multinational boundaries.
	Department of Defense Metadata Registry	Managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), it provides data services and other data-related infrastructures that promote interoperability and software reuse in the secure, reliable, and networked environment planned for the Global Information Grid (GIG). See Global Information Grid (GIG).
	Depot-Level (D-Level) Maintenance	Maintenance performed on materiel requiring major overhaul or a complete rebuild of parts, assemblies, subassemblies, and end items, including the manufacture of parts, modification, testing, and reclamation, as required. Supports organizational and intermediate maintenance activities by more extensive shop facilities and personnel of higher technical skill than are normally available at the lower levels of maintenance.
	Derived Requirements	These arise from constraints, consideration of issues implied but not explicitly stated in the requirements baseline, factors introduced by the selected architecture, information assurance (IA) requirements and the design. Derived requirements are definitized through requirements analysis as part of the overall systems engineering process (SEP) and are part of the allocated baseline.
	Design Synthesis	The process of translating functional and performance requirements into design solutions to include internal and external interfaces.
DT&E	Developmental Test and Evaluation	1.) Any testing used to assist in the development and maturation of products, product elements, or manufacturing or support processes. 2.) Any engineering-type test used to verify status of technical progress, verify that design risks are minimized, substantiate achievement of contract technical performance, and certify readiness for initial operational testing.
DMSMS	Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages	The loss, or impending loss, of manufacturers of items or suppliers of items or of raw materials. This can be caused by many factors including new or evolving science, detection limits, toxicity values, and regulations related to chemicals and materials resulting in significant impact on DoD’s supply chain and industrial base (IB). This situation may cause shortages that endanger the life cycle support and capability of the weapon system or equipment. (DoD 4140.1-R)
	Direct Cost	Any cost specifically identified with a particular final cost objective. Is not necessarily limited to items that are incorporated into the end product as labor or material.
	Direct Labor	Labor specifically identified with a particular final cost objective. Manufacturing direct labor includes fabrication, assembly, inspection, and test for constructing the end product. Engineering direct labor consists of engineering labors such as reliability, quality assurance (QA), test, design, etc., that are readily identified with the end product.
	Direct Materials	Includes raw materials, purchased parts, and subcontracted items required to manufacture and assemble completed products. A direct material cost is the cost of material used in making a product.
	Disbursements	In budgetary usage, gross disbursements represent the amount of checks issued, cash, or other payments less refunds received. Net disbursements represent gross disbursements less income collected and credited to the appropriation of fund account, such as amounts received for goods and services provided. The word disbursement is often used interchangeably with the term outlay.
	Disposal	1.) The second effort of the Operations and Support (O&S) phase as established and defined by DoDI 5000.02. At the end of its useful life, a system shall be demilitarized and disposed of in accordance with all legal and regulatory requirements and policy relating to safety (including explosives safety), security, and the environment. 2.) The act of getting rid of excess, surplus, scrap, or salvage property under proper authority. Disposal may be accomplished by, but not limited to, transfer, donation, sale, declaration, abandonment, or destruction.
DPD	Distributed Product Description	Central elements in a collaborative environment that authoritatively maintain the system design and behavioral information for alternative designs as needed for Modeling and Simulation (M&S) analyses by all authorized users. In particular, the DPD should possess strong inter-networking capabilities to maintain coordinated system design (structural) and performance views of the system under development. It should incrementally reflect changed performance parameters in response to design changes and address the resulting performance impacts on system operations.
CAE	DoD Component Acquisition Executive	Secretaries of the military departments or heads of agencies with the power of redelegation.
	DoD Components	The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD); the military departments; the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) and the Joint Staff (JS); the combatant commands (COCOMs); the Office of the Inspector General (IG) of the DoD; the defense agencies; DoD field activities; and all other organization entities within DoD.

 

Acronym	Title	Definition
E
EOA	Early Operational Assessment	An operational assessment (OA) conducted early in an acquisition program, often on subsystems and early prototype equipment, to forecast and evaluate the potential operational effectiveness and suitability of the system during development. EOAs also assist in determining any systemunique test assets for future developmental and operational tests.
EVM	Earn Value Management	EVM is a project management technique for measuring project performance and progress in an objective manner.
EA	Economic Analysis	A systematic approach to selecting the most efficient and cost-effective strategy for satisfying an agency’s need. An EA evaluates the relative worth of different technical alternatives, design solutions, and/or acquisition strategies, and provides the means for identifying and documenting the costs and associated benefits of each alternative to determine the most cost-effective solution. Normally associated with Automated Information System (AIS) acquisition programs.
	Economic Lot Size	The number of units of material or a manufactured item that can be purchased or produced within the lowest unit cost range. Its determination involves reconciling the decreasing trend in preparation unit costs and the increasing trend in unit costs of storage, interest, insurance, depreciation, and other costs incident to ownership as the size of the lot is increased.
EOQ	Economic Ordering Quantity	The most economical quantity of parts to order at one time, considering the applicable procurement and inventory costs.
	Effectiveness	The extent to which the goals of the system are attained, or the degree to which a system can be elected to achieve a set of specific mission requirements. Also, an output of cost-effectiveness analysis.
	Efficiency Factor	The ratio of standard performance time to actual performance time; usually expressed as a percentage.
E3	Electromagnetic Environmental Effect	Engineering term used to designate interference in a piece of electronic equipment caused by another piece of electronic or other equipment. Sometimes refers to interference caused by nuclear explosion.
ECCM	Electronic Counter-Countermeasures	The division of Electronic Warfare (EW) involving actions taken to ensure friendly effective use of the electromagnetic, optical, and acoustic spectra despite the enemy’s use of EW, to include high-power microwave techniques.
EDI	Electronic Data Interchange	The exchange of standardized information between business partners typically communicated electronically between computers. It is DoD policy that DoD component EDI applications shall conform to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 standard.
EP	Electronic Protection	The division of Electronic Warfare (EW) involving actions taken to protect personnel, facilities, or equipment from any effects of friendly or enemy employment of EW that degrade, neutralize, or destroy friendly capability.
EW	Electronic Warfare	EW refers to any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults via the spectrum.
	Embedded Computer Resources	Computer system physically incorporated (not necessarily within) into a larger system whose function is not purely data processing. ECR can be standalone but still integral to a larger system and used for other purposes provided the primary function is to support weapon systems.
	Embedded Instrumentation	Data collection and processing capabilities integrated into the design of a system for one or more of the following uses: diagnostics, prognostics, testing, or training. (JCIDS Manual)
	Enactment	1.) Action by the Congress on the President’s Budget (PB). Includes hearings, budget resolution, authorizations, and appropriations acts. Result is appropriations (funding) for federal government. 2.) Second of four phases in the DoD Resource Allocation Process (RAP). (The phases of the DoD RAP are: Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) process, Enactment, Apportionment, and Execution.)
	End Item	The final production product when assembled, or completed, and ready for issue or deployment.
EMD	Engineering Manufacturing and Development Phase	The EMD Phase is where a system is developed and designed before going into production.
ECP	Engineering Change Proposal	A proposal to the responsible authority recommending that a change to an original item of equipment be considered, and the design or engineering change be incorporated into the article to modify, add to, delete, or supersede original parts.
	Engineering Cost Estimate	Derived by summing detailed cost estimates of the individual work packages and adding appropriate burdens. Usually determined by a contractor’s industrial engineers, price analysts, and cost accountants.
EDM	Engineering Development Model	A system acquired during the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) Phase that is built from approved Critical Design Review (CDR) drawings. EDMs may be used for development and operational testing to demonstrate maturing performance during the latter stages of development and to finalize proposed production specifications and drawings.
EISP	Enhanced Information Support Plan	A desktop software application that provides a standard methodology for discovery, analysis, and management of an acquisition program’s information dependencies. It facilitates the development of standard Information Support Plan (ISP) and Tailored Information Support Plan (TISP) formats and assists programs in risk mitigation. (CJCSI 6212.01E)
	Entrance Criteria	Minimum accomplishments required to be completed by each program prior to entry into the next phase or effort.
EA	Environmental Assessment	Contains an estimate of whether or not a proposed system will adversely affect the environment or be environmentally controversial, in which case an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is prepared.
EIS	Environmental Impact Statement	Detailed description of the effects, impacts, or consequences associated with designing, manufacturing, testing, operating, maintaining, and disposing of weapon or Automated Information System (AIS) systems.
ESS	Environmental Stress Screening	A series of tests conducted under environmental stresses to expose weak parts and defects in workmanship so they may be corrected.
	Escalation	Use of a price index to convert past to present prices or to convert present to future prices; increase because of inflation and outlay rates for the appropriation and the branch or the Service involved.
EAC	Estimate at Completion	Actual direct costs, plus indirect costs or costs allocable to the contract, plus the estimate of costs (direct and indirect) for authorized work remaining.
	Evaluation Criteria	Standards by which accomplishments of required technical and operational effectiveness and/ or suitability characteristics or resolution of operational issues may be assessed. See Source Selection Plan (SSP).
	Event-Based Contracting	Supports event-driven acquisition strategy by linking specific contractual events to the exit criteria for the acquisition phase, or to intermediate development events established for the acquisition strategy.
	Event-Driven Acquisition Strategy	An acquisition strategy that links program decisions to demonstrated accomplishments indevelopment, testing, and production.
	Event Maintenance	One or more maintenance actions required to effect corrective and preventative maintenance as a result of any type of failure or malfunction, false alarm, or scheduled maintenance plan.
EA	Evolutionary Acquisition	EA is a DoD procurement approach where capability is developed and delivered in Increments.
	Exclusive (Non-Exclusive) License	A license covering a patent(s), technical or proprietary data, technical assistance, know how, or any combination of these, granted by a U.S. firm to a foreign firm or government to produce, co-produce, or sell a defense article or service within a given sales territory without competition from any other licenses or from the licenser. A non-exclusive license is a license as described as above, except that competition may be permitted with other licensees and/or the licenser.
	Execution	The Execution phase is the real world application of the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) process.
	Executive Direction	Authority and guidance for defense acquisition from within the Office of the President of the United States. Includes executive orders issued by the President, National Security Directives (NSD) issued by the National Security Council (NSC), and circulars issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
	Expenditure	An actual disbursement of funds in return for goods or services. Frequently used interchangeably with the term outlay.
	Expense Limitation	The financial authority issued by a claimant to an intermediate level of command is an expense limitation. Amounts therein are available for issuance of operating budgets to responsibility centers.
	Expenses	Expired costs that are deducted from revenue for a given period. Cost of operation and maintenance (O&M) of activities on the accrual basis over time, as distinguished from costs of acquisition of property.
	Expired Account or Appropriation	Appropriation or fund account in which the balances no longer are available for incurring new obligations because the time period available for incurring such obligations has ended. However, the account remains available for 5 years to process disbursements, collections, and within scope adjustments of original obligations. See Cancelled Appropriation.
	Extrapolation from Actual Costs	Extrapolation method requires prototype or preproduction actual cost data on the system considered. Primarily used in estimating the production cost of system hardware, and assumes a relationship (technical, performance) between cost of prototypes and production units. See Cost Estimating Methodologies.
F
	Fabrication	The construction of a part from raw material; the development of software code.
	Facilities	Includes the permanent, semi-permanent, or temporary real property assets required to operate and support the materiel system. As a program begins to identify its future facilities requirements, it should define the types of facilities or facility improvements, locations, space needs, utilities, environmental requirements, real estate requirements, and equipment. One of the traditional elements of logistics support (LS).
	Failure	The event in which any part of an item does not perform as required by its performance specification. The failure may occur at a value in excess of the minimum required in the specification, i.e., past design limits or beyond the margin of safety.
FFW	Failure-Free Warranty	A procurement methodology whose purpose is to bring the manufacturers or design control agent into the loop of continuously upgrading the field reliability of designated equipment(s).
FMECA	Failure Modes and Effects Criticality Analysis	Procedure by which each potential failure mode is analyzed to determine its effects on the system and then classified according to its severity. It further attempts to identify all single points of failure; that is, those points where failure of the component can cause failure of the entire system.
FoS	Family of Systems	A set of systems that provides similar capabilities through different approaches to achieve similar or complementary effects. For example, the warfighter may need the capability to track moving targets. The FoS that provides this capability could include manned or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with appropriate sensors, a space-based platform, or a special operations capability. Each can provide the ability to track moving targets, but with differing characteristics of persistence, accuracy, timeliness, etc. (JCIDS Manual)
	Fatigue Allowance	Time included in the production standard to allow for decreases or losses in production that might be attributed to worker fatigue. (Usually applied as a percentage of the leveled, normal, or adjusted time.)
	Feasibility Study	A study of the applicability or desirability of any management or procedural system from the standpoint of advantages versus disadvantages in any given case.
FAR	Federal Acquisition Regulations	The FAR is the primary regulation for use by all Federal Executive agencies in their acquisition of supplies and services with appropriated funds
	Federal Business Opportunities System	Electronic interface designed to be a single point of entry for federal buyers to publish, and for vendors to find posted, federal business opportunities across departments and agencies. This capability provides an easy data exchange interface between FedBizOpps and each buyer agency’s electronic procurement system.
	Fenced Funding	An identified aggregation of resources reviewed, approved, and managed as a distinct entity.The proposed program must be developed within directed resource limitations and the approved program must be implemented within specified resources.
FFP	Firm-Fixed-Price Contract	A FFP contract provides for a price that is not subject to any adjustment on the basis of the contractor’s cost experience in performing the contract.
	First Article	First article includes preproduction models, initial production samples, test samples, first lots, pilot models, and pilot lots; and approval involves testing and evaluating the first article for conformance with specified contract requirements before or in the initial stage of production under a contract.
FAT	First Article Testing	Production testing that is planned, conducted, and monitored by the materiel developer. FAT includes preproduction and initial production testing conducted to ensure that the contractor can furnish a product that meets the established technical criteria.
	Fixed Costs	Costs that do not vary with the volume of business, such as property taxes, insurance, depreciation, security, and minimum water and utility fees.
FS	Flexible Sustainment	A concept that provides procedural freedom to optimize life cycle costs (LCCs) through tradeoffs that are accomplished either during initial or follow-on acquisition. The principal elements of FS are Reliability-Based Logistics (RBL) techniques and Trigger-Based Item Management (TBIM). Both of these processes attempt to take maximum advantage of commercial industry capabilities and practices. See Reliability-Based Logistics (RBL) and Trigger-Based Item Management (TBIM).
FSCAP	Flight Safety Critical Aircraft Part	Any aircraft part, assembly, or installation containing a critical characteristic whose failure, malfunction, or absence may cause a catastrophic failure resulting in loss or serious damage to the aircraft, or cause an un-commanded engine shutdown resulting in an unsafe condition. See Critical Characteristic.
	Flyaway Costs	Costs related to the production of a usable end item of military hardware. Includes the cost of creating the basic unit (airframe, hull, chassis, etc.), an allowance for changes, propulsion equipment, electronics, armament, other installed Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE), and nonrecurring start-up production costs. Equates to Rollaway and Sailaway costs.
	Focused Logistics	A Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) initiative that seeks the fusion of information, logistics, and transportation technologies to provide rapid crisis response by allowing for the tracking and shifting of assets en route and the delivery of tailored logistics and sustainment packages directly at the strategic, operational, or tactical level of operations.
FOT&E	Follow-On Operational Test and Evaluation	The Test and Evaluation (T&E) that may be necessary after the Full-Rate Production Decision Review (FRPDR) to refine the estimates made during Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E), to evaluate changes, and to reevaluate the system to ensure that it continues to meet operational needs and retains its effectiveness in a new environment or against a new threat.
FFA	Force Field Analysis	An FFA provides a framework for looking at the factors (forces) that influence a situation.
	Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) Program	A DoD Test and Evaluation (T&E) program that is prescribed in Title 10 U.S.C. § 2350a(g),and is centrally managed by the Comparative Testing Office, Office of the Director, Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E). It provides funding for U.S. T&E of selected equipment items and technologies developed by allied countries when such items and technologies are identified as having good potential to satisfy valid DoD requirements.
	Foreign Military Sales (FMS)	That portion of U.S. security assistance authorized by the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) of 1961, and the Arms Export Control Act (AECA). The recipient provides reimbursement for defense articles and services transferred from the United States. This includes cash sales from stocks (inventories, services, or training) by DoD.
	Form, Fit, and Function (F3) Data	Technical data (TD) pertaining to items, components, or processes for the purpose of identifying source, size, configuration, mating and attachment characteristics, functional characteristics, and performance requirements.
	Formal Agreement	A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), or the equivalent, as defined in DoDD 5530.3.
	Forward Funding	Carryover of research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) funding (Budget Authority (BA)) into second year of appropriations availability. Requires permission from higher authority.
	Franchise	A Franchise is a form of business that agrees to the rights to sell the product or services of an established business and use their name in a given territory.
	Functional Analysis and Allocation	Functional Analysis and Allocation is a top-down process of translating system level requirements into detailed functional and performance design criteria.
FAA	Functional Area Analysis	The FAA identifies the operational tasks, conditions, and standards needed to achieve military objectives
	Functional Architecture	A Functional Architecture is an architectural model that identifies system function and their interactions.
FNA	Functional Needs Analysis	A FNA assesses current and future capabilities to meet the military objectives of the scenarios chosen in the Functional Area Analysis (FAA) and is an output of the Capabilities Based Assessment.
	Full Funding	1.) The practice of funding the total cost of major procurement and construction projects in the fiscal year (FY) in which they will be initiated. The full funding policy requires the total estimated cost of a complete, military useable end item or construction project funded in the year in which the item is procured. If a future year’s appropriation is required for delivery of an end item, the end item is not fully funded. It prevents funding programs incrementally and provides a disciplined approach for program managers (PMs) to execute their programs within cost. (DoD 7000.14-R) 2.) A DoDI 5000.02 requirement for program initiation of an acquisition program. In this sense, full funding means having the dollars and manpower needed for all current and future efforts to carry out the acquisition strategy in the budget and out-year program as part of the entrance criteria for the transition into the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase.
FOC	Full Operational Capability	FOC is when a system is delivered to a user and they have the ability to fully employ and maintain it to meet an operational need.
FRP	Full-Rate Production	Contracting for economic production quantities following stabilization of the system design and validation of the production process.
FRP&D	Full-Rate Production and Deployment	The second effort of the Production and Deployment (P&D) phase defined and established by DoDI 5000.02. This effort follows a successful Full-Rate Production Decision Review (FRPDR). The system is produced at rate production and deployed to the field or fleet. This phase overlaps the Operations and Support (O&S) phase since fielded systems are operated and supported (sustained) while Full-Rate Production (FRP) is ongoing.
FA/A	Functional Analysis and Allocation	The examination of a function to identify all subfunctions necessary to the accomplishment of that function, and the identification of functional relationships and interfaces and the capturing of those relationships in a functional architecture. The subsequent flow down of upper-level performance requirements to lower-level subfunctions.
	Functional Baseline	Documentation describing system/segment functional characteristics and the verification required to demonstrate the achievement of those specified functional characteristics. The system or segment specification establishes the functional baseline. See System Specification.
FCB	Functional Capabilities Board	A permanently established body that is responsible for the organization, analysis, and prioritization of joint warfighting capabilities within an assigned joint capability area. (JCIDS Manual)
FCA	Functional Configuration Audit	Verifies that all item or subsystem requirements established in the functional and allocated baselines, specifications, and test plans have been tested successfully, and corrective action has been initiated, as necessary. (Electronic Industries Association Standard 632)
	Functional Management	The process of planning, organizing, coordinating, controlling, and directing efforts within a structure that groups responsibilities according to the type of work to be performed.
FSA	Functional Solutions Analysis	A FSA is the operationally based assessment of potential DOTMLPF approaches to solving (or mitigating) one or more of the capability gaps identified in the Functional Needs Analysis (FNA).
	Functional Support	Systematized methodologies and procedures, or a common set of standards applied to materiel acquisition programs, which include but are not limited to personnel, technical requirements, security, Automated Data Processing (ADP), cost analysis, training, safety, audit, logistics, Product Assurance (PA), reliability, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), obligation planning and reporting, industrial preparedness, Value Engineering (VE), test, public affairs, legal, Inspector General (IG), mobilization, contracting, international cooperation, and small business.
	Funding Profile	Program funding, usually displayed in columnar spread sheet format by years, starting with previous year through Current Year (CY) and out years.
	Funding Wedge	Initial funding estimate used to get a program recognized in the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP).
FLE	Future Logistics Enterprise (FLE)	DoD’s mid-term vision (2005-2010) to accelerate logistics improvement, enhance support to the warfighter, and align logistics processes with the operational demands of the 21st century. The primary objective of the FLE is to ensure consistent, reliable support that meets warfighter requirements through enterprise integration and end-to-end customer service. The FLE builds upon and accelerates specific ongoing Service/agency initiatives to meet the requirements of the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and the National Defense Strategy (NDS).
	Future Root Cause	The reason, which if eliminated or corrected, would prevent a potential consequence from occurring. It is the most basic reason for the presence of risk. (Risk Management Guide for DoD Acquisition, Sixth Edition) See Risk.
FYDP	Future Year Defense Program	The FYDP summarizes forces, resources and equipment associated with all DoD programs.
G
	Gantt Chart	A graphic portrayal of a project that shows the activities to be completed and the time to complete represented by horizontal lines drawn in proportion to the duration of the activity. Some Gantt Charts are able to show the float for the activity.
	Gatekeeper	The Joint Staff (JS) Deputy Director for Requirements, J-8, serves as the Gatekeeper for the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) process. This individual makes the initial joint potential designation of JCIDS documents and determines lead and supporting Functional Capabilities Boards (FCB) for capability documents. The Gatekeeper is supported in these functions by FCB working group leads and the JS/J-6. (JCIDS Manual)
	General and Administrative (G&A) Costs	Any management, financial, or other expense incurred or allocated to a business unit for the general management and administration of the business unit as a whole.
	General Provisions	The mandatory (by law or regulation) clauses for all DoD contracts for the type of procurement involved—sometimes called boiler plate. The clauses devised for a particular procurement are called Special Provisions.
	General Purpose Test Equipment	Mechanical, hydraulic, electrical, electronics, or other test equipment which, without modification or alteration, has more than one use and is not limited to a special or peculiar research, development, production, maintenance, or test application.
	General Specification	A general specification covers requirements common to two or more types, classes, grades, or styles of products, services, or materials avoiding the repetition of common requirements in detail specifications. It also permits changes to common requirements to be readily effected. General specifications may also be used to cover common requirements for weapon systems and subsystems.
GIG	Global Information Grid	The globally interconnected, end-to-end set of information capabilities, associated processes, and personnel for collecting, processing, storing, disseminating, and managing information on demand to warfighters, policy makers, and support personnel. The GIG includes all owned and leased communications and computing systems and services, software (including applications), data, security services, and other associated services necessary to achieve information superiority. It also includes National Security Systems (NSS) as defined in Section 5142 of the Clinger-Cohen Act (CCA) of 1996. (CJCSI 6212.01E)
	Global Information Grid (GIG) Technical Guidance (GTG)	An evolving web-enabled capability providing the technical guidance necessary for an interoperable and supportable GIG built on network-centric principles. (CJCSI 6212.01E)
GAO	Government Accountability Office	Formerly the General Accounting Office. An agency of the Legislative Branch, responsible solely to the Congress and functions to audit all negotiated government office contracts and investigate all matters relating to the receipt, disbursement, and application of public funds. Determines whether public funds are expended in accordance with appropriations.
	Government Purpose License Rights	Rights to use, duplicate, or disclose technical data (TD) for government purposes only, and to have or permit others to do so for government purposes only. Government purposes include competitive procurement but do not include the right to permit others to use for commercial purposes.
GFP	Government Furnished Property	Property in the possession of, or acquired directly by, the government, and subsequently delivered to, or otherwise made available to, the contractor.
GFE	Government Furnished Software	Government Furnished Software (GFS) is Non-Developmental Software (NDS) software that is provided to a contractor by the government for a specific intent or purpose.
GDF	Guidance for Development of the Force	Establishes DoD’s force development planning and resource priorities needed to meet future contingencies. The GDF is issued early in the planning process to provide overall policy and strategy guidance to be used in developing the defense program. It provides Secretary of Defense’s (SECDEF’s) politico-military guidance to inform development of the Joint Programming Guidance (JPG) and Program Objective Memorandum (POM), and is informed by the National Defense Strategy (NDS) and National Military Strategy (NMS). (CJCSI 3100.01B)
GEF	Guidance for Employment of the Force	Provides comprehensive, near-term planning guidance. The GEF and Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan (JSCP) are companion documents. Provides Presidential and Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) politico-military guidance. The President approves the contingency planning guidance contained in the GEF and approves the Secretary’s issuance of the GEF. The GEF is informed by the Unified Command Plan and National Defense Strategy (NDS); and it informs strategic policy guidance, campaign plans, and the JSCP. (CJCSI 3100.01B)
H
	Handling	The coordination and integration of all operations embracing packaging, protection, and movement of materiel by available equipment for short distances.
	Heartburn Appeal	An appeal issue that seeks to reverse or amend a decision by a congressional committee adversely affecting the budget. In particular, it is an appeal issue identified as being of major concern to the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) that is addressed to the chairperson of the next committee scheduled to mark up the budget request. Also, any specific negative reaction to a proposal.
	Highly Sensitive Classified Program	An acquisition special access program established and managed in accordance with DoD 5200.1-R, Information Security Program Regulation. See Special Access Program (SAP).
	Horizontal Integration	In the context of Earned Value Management (EVM), demonstrates that work is planned in a logical sequence considering the interdependencies among work packages and planning packages (or lower-level tasks/activities), ensures that the overall schedule is rational, and provides methodology to evaluate the impact of current schedule status on subsequent work packages and planning packages (or lower-level tasks/activities) and milestones. Horizontal integration depicts schedule dependencies and constraints and focuses on relationships within the same scheduling level, including those between different program elements such as hand-offs of products between Integrated Product Teams (IPT). (Government-Industry Earned Value Management Working Group)
HFE	Human Factors Engineering	The systematic application of relevant information about human abilities, characteristics, behavior, motivation, and performance to provide for effective human-machine interfaces and to meet Human Systems Integration (HSI) requirements. Where practicable and cost effective, system designs should shall minimize or eliminate system characteristics that requires excessive cognitive, physical, or sensory skills; entail extensive training or workload-intensive tasks; result in mission-critical errors; or produce safety or health hazards. (DoDI 5000.02) See Human Systems Integration (HSI).
HSI	Human System Integration	Includes the integrated and comprehensive analysis, design and assessment of requirements, concepts and resources for system manpower, personnel, training, safety and occupational health,habitability, personnel survivability, and human factors engineering. (DoDI 5000.02 and JCIDS Manual) See Human Factors Engineering.
I
IWN	Immediate Warfighter Need	A subset of Joint Urgent Operational Needs (JUONs), so designated as IWNs by the Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell (JRAC), and has a materiel or logistics solution that must be resolved within 120 days or less. (CJCSI 3470.01) See Joint Urgent Operational Need (JUON) and Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell (JRAC).
	Implementation	The publication of directives, instructions, regulations, and related documents that define responsibilities and authorities and establish the internal management processes necessary to implement the policies or procedures of a higher authority.
	Implemented Project	A cooperative project for which, subsequent to DoD component or the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) approval, agreements with one or more allied or friendly nations have been signed and component funds or funds for cooperative research and development (R&D) under Title 10 U.S.C. § 2350a, have been authorized and released.
	Impoundment	An action by the President that prevents the obligation or expenditure of Budget Authority (BA). Deferrals and rescissions are the two types of presidential impoundment.
	Impoundment Resolution	Whenever all or part of any Budget Authority (BA) provided by the Congress is deferred, the President must transmit a message to the Congress describing the deferrals. Either house of Congress may, at any time, pass a resolution disapproving this deferral of BA, thus requiring that the funds be made available for obligation. When no congressional action is taken, deferrals may remain in effect until, but not beyond, the end of the Fiscal Year (FY). If the funds remain available beyond the end of a FY and continued deferral of their use is desired, the President must transmit a new special message to the Congress.
	Increment	In the context of Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS), a militarily useful and supportable operational capability that can be effectively developed, produced, acquired, deployed and sustained. Each increment of capability will have its own set of threshold and objective values set by the user. (JCIDS Manual)
	Incremental Development	In the context of systems acquisition, see Evolutionary Acquisition (EA).
	Incentive Contract	An Incentive contracts is appropriate when a firm-fixed-price contract is not appropriate and the required supplies or services can be acquired at lower costs and relating the amount of profit or fee payable under the contract to the contractor’s performance.
IDQ	Indefinite Delivery Contract	The appropriate type of indefinite-delivery contract may be used to acquire supplies and/or services when the exact times and/or exact quantities of future deliveries are not known at the time of contract award.
ICE	Independent Cost Estimate	A Life Cycle Cost Estimate (LCCE) for Acquisition Category (ACAT) I programs prepared by an office or other entity that is not under the supervision, direction, or control of the military department, defense agency, or other component of DoD that is directly responsible for carrying out the development or acquisition of the program, or if the decision authority has been delegated to a component, prepared by an office or other entity that is not directly responsible for carrying on the development or acquisition of the program.
IV&V	Independent Verification and Validation	An independent review of software performed by an organization that is technically, managerially, and financially independent of the development organization.
IA	Information Assurance	Information Assurance (IA) is Information Operations that protect and defend information and information systems by ensuring their availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation. This includes providing for the restoration of information systems by incorporating protection, detection, and reaction capabilities. IA Verification falls under the Net-Ready Key Performance Parameter (NR-KPP).
IT	Information Technology	The term “information technology” means any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment, that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information by the executive agency.
ICD	Initial Capabilities Document	The ICD documents the need for a materiel approach, or an approach that is a combination of materiel and non-materiel, to a specific capability gap derived from an initial analysis of materiel approaches executed by the operational user and, as required, an independent analysis of materiel alternatives.
IOC	Initial Operational Capability	The IOC is a point in time during the production and deployment phase where a system can meet the minimum operational (Threshold and Objective) capabilities for a user’s stated need.
IOT&E	Initial Operational Test and Evaluation	The IOT&E is conducted on production, or production representative articles, to determine whether systems are operationally effective and suitable for intended use by representative users.
ISR	In-Service Review	The ISR is an assessment of a system to determine if it’s operationally employed with well-understood and managed risks
IBR	Integrated Baseline Review	An IBR is a joint assessment conducted by the government program manager and the contractor to establish a mutual understanding of the Performance Measurement Baseline.
ILS	Integrated Logistics Support	A unified and iterative approach to the management and technical activities needed to influence operational and materiel requirements and design specifications, define the support requirements best related to system design and to each other, develop and acquire the required support, provide required operational support at lowest cost, seek readiness and life cycle cost (LCC) improvements in the materiel system and support systems during the operational life cycle, and repeatedly examine support requirements throughout the service life of the system.
IMP	Integrated Master Plan	An event-driven plan that documents the significant accomplishments necessary to complete the work and ties each accomplishment to a key program event.
IMS	Integrated Master Schedule	An integrated and networked multi-layered schedule of program tasks required to complete the work effort captured in a related Integrated Master Plan (IMP). The IMS should include all IMP events and accomplishments and support each accomplishment closure criteria.
IPPD	Integrated Product and Process Development	A management technique that simultaneously integrates all essential acquisition activities through the use of multidisciplinary teams to optimize the design, manufacturing, and supportability processes. IPPD facilitates meeting cost and performance objectives from product concept through production, including field support. One of the key IPPD tenets is multidisciplinary teamwork through Integrated Product Teams (IPTs).
	Integrated Testing	Integrated Testing is a process intended to result in resource efficiencies (time, money, people, and assets) and an enhanced data set for separate evaluations
IPT	Integrated Product Team	An Integrated Product Team (IPT) is a team composed of representatives from appropriate functional disciplines working together to build successful programs, identify and resolve issues, and make sound and timely recommendations to facilitate decision making.
IP	Intellectual Property	(IP is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law.
	Interfaces	Interfaces are the functional and/or physical interface between two components with a system.
	Interface Requirements Specification	A type of Item Performance Specification that defines the required software interfaces for a given Software Item (SI) in the allocated baseline, the requirements for which are described by a Software Requirement Specification (SRS). The IRS is frequently combined with the SRS.
	Interim Contractor Logistics Support	Interim contractor support (ICS) includes the burdened cost of contract labor, material, and assets used in providing temporary logistics support to a weapon system, subsystem, and associated support equipment. The purpose of ICS is to provide total or partial logistics support until a government maintenance capability is developed.
ILM	Intermediate-Level Maintenance	That level of maintenance/repair of items that do not have to go to depot level for major work and are incapable of maintenance/repair at the organizational level.
	Internal Audit	The independent appraisal activity within an organization for the review of the accounting, financial, and related operations as a basis for protective and constructive services to management.
	Interoperability	The ability of systems, units, or forces to provide data, information, materiel, and services to and accept the same from other systems, units, or forces and to use the data, information, materiel, and services so exchanged to enable them to operate effectively together. Information technology (IT) and National Security System (NSS) interoperability includes both the technical exchange of information and the operational effectiveness of that exchanged information as required for mission accomplishment. (CJCSI 6212.01E)
ICP	Inventory Control Point	The organizational element within a distribution system that is assigned responsibility for system-wide direction and control of materiel including such management functions as the computation of requirements, the initiation of procurement or disposal actions, the development of worldwide quantitative and monetary inventory data, and the positioning and repositioning of materiel.
IRB	Investment Review Board	Certification authorities for defense business systems are required to establish and charter an IRB to provide oversight of investment review processes for business systems supporting activities under their designated area of responsibility.
IUID	Item Unique Item Identification	IUID is an asset identification system instituted by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to uniquely identify assets.
J
JCB	Joint Capabilities Board	Assists the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) in carrying out its duties and responsibilities. The JCB reviews and, if appropriate, endorses all Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS); and doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership, personnel, and facilities (DOTMLPF) change recommendation (DCR) documents prior to their submission to the JROC. The JCB is chaired by the Joint Staff Director, J-8.
JCIDS	Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System	There are three key processes in DoD that must work in concert to deliver the capabilities required by the warfighter: the requirements process; the acquisition process; and the Planning, Programming, Budget, and Execution (PPBE) process. JCIDS implements the requirements process. JCIDS supports the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) and the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) in identifying, assessing, and prioritizing joint military capability needs as required by law. The capabilities are identified by analyzing what is required across all joint capability areas to accomplish the mission. (CJCSI 3170.01G and JCIDS Manual)
JCTD	Joint Capability Technology Demonstration	A JCTD examines the military utility and provides an assessment of a new technology to clearly establish its operational utility and system integrity.
JROC	Joint Requirements Oversight Council	The JROC charters and oversees the work in developing overarching joint operational and integrating concepts for the joint missions during the joint concept development component of this process.
JT&E	Joint Test and Evaluation	JT&E Program provides quantitative operational test and evaluation (OT&E) information used for analyzing joint military capabilities and develops potential options for increasing military effectiveness.
JUON	Joint Urgent Operational Need	An urgent operational need identified by a combatant commander (CCDR) involved in an ongoing named operation. A JUON’s main purpose is to identify and subsequently gain Joint Staff (JS) validation and resourcing for a solution, usually within days or weeks, to meet a specific high-priority CCDR need. (CJCSI 3470.01)
J&A	Justification and Approval	A document required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) that justifies and obtains approval for contract solicitations that use other than Full and Open Competition (FOC).
JIT	Just-in-Time Inventory	JIT is a production strategy that strives to improve a business’ return on investment by reducing in-process inventory and associated storage costs.

 

Acronym	Title	Definition
K
KPP	Key Performance Parameters	A KPP is a key system capabilities that must be meet in order for a system to meet its operation goals.
KSA	Key System Attributes	A KSA is a system capability considered crucial in support of achieving a balanced solution/approach to a Key Performance Parameter (KPP) or some other key performance attribute deemed necessary by the sponsor.
	Known Unknowns	Future situations in which it is possible to plan for or predict in part. For example, schedule changes are certain, but the extent of the changes are unknown.
L
	Labor Productivity	The rate of output of a worker or group of workers per unit of time, usually compared to an established standard or expected rate of output.
	Labor Standards	A compilation by time study of standard time for each element of a given type of work.
LBTS	Land-Based Test Site	A facility duplicating/simulating as many conditions as possible of a system’s planned operational installation and utilization. (Navy)
	Lead Component/Service	The DoD component responsible for management of a joint acquisition program involving two or more DoD components.
	Leader-Follower Concept	A government contractual relationship for the delivery of an end item through a prime or subcontract relationship or to provide assistance to another company. Variants include: 1.) A prime contract awarded to established source (leader) who is obligated to subcontract to and assist another source (follower). 2.) A contract is awarded requiring the leader to assist the follower who has the prime contract for production. 3.) A prime contract awarded to the follower for production, and the follower is obligated to subcontract with a designated leader for assistance. (The leader may be producing under another contract.)
	Lean Six-Sigma	A set of tools used to optimize processes by eliminating waste and reducing variation.
	Learning/Improvement Curve	A mathematical way to explain and measure the rate of change of cost (in hours or dollars) as a function of quantity.
LA/LL	Legislative Affairs/Legislative Liaison	The interaction between DoD (the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Services, and agencies) and Congress that includes responses to requests for information, preparation of reports, appearances at hearings, etc. Usually coordinated by and conducted through Service or agency LL offices.
	Legislative Branch	Defense acquisition interests in the Legislative Branch (Congress) are overseen by the “congressional defense committees,” meaning the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), and the Senate and House Appropriations Committees (SAC and HAC, respectively). (Title 10 U.S.C. § 101(a)(16)). Others having legislative oversight of defense activities include the congressional staff, individual members of Congress, the Congressas a body, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
	Lethality	The probability that a weapon will destroy or neutralize a target.
	Letter Contract	An offer and acceptance that is specific and definitive enough to show the purpose and scope of the final contract to be executed. When accepted in writing by the contractor, documentary evidence exists to support the recording of an obligation. See Undefinitized Contract Action (UCA).
LOE	Level of Effort	Effort of a general or supportive nature that does not produce definite end products or results, i.e., contract for man-hours.
LORA	Level of Repair Analysis	An analytical methodology used to assist in developing maintenance concepts and establishing the maintenance level at which components will be replaced, repaired, or discarded based on economic/non-economic constraints and operational readiness requirements. Also known as an Optimum Repair Level Analysis (ORLA).
	Licensed Production	1.) Agreements by U.S. commercial firms with foreign governments/firms to produce foreign weapon systems. 2.) Overseas production of a defense article of United States origin based on transfer of technical information under commercial arrangements between a U.S. manufacturer and a foreign government or producer. U.S. government involvement is limited to issuance of an export license.
LCC	Life-Cycle Cost Estimate	LCC is the estimated cost of developing, producing, deploying, maintaining, operating and disposing of a system over its entire lifespan.
LCL	Life-Cycle Logistics	Translates force provider capability and performance requirements into tailored product support to achieve specified and evolving life cycle product support availability, reliability, and affordability parameters. Includes life cycle sustainment planning and execution, seamlessly spanning a system’s entire life cycle, from Materiel Solution Analysis (MSA) to disposal.
LCMP	Life-Cycle Management Plan	Integrated acquisition and sustainment strategy for the life of the system. The LCMP fulfills the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Defense FAR Supplement (DFARS), and Air Force FAR Supplement (AFFARS) requirements of the acquisition plan and the DoDI 5000.02 requirements of the acquisition strategy, which includes the Life Cycle Sustainment Plan (LCSP).
LSSP	Life-Cycle Signature Support Plan	A management plan that is applied throughout the life of a signature-dependent acquisition that bases all programmatic decisions on the anticipated mission-related and economic benefits derived over the life of a signature-dependent acquisition.
	Life-Cycle Sustainment	Life-cycle sustainment involves the early planning, development, implementation, and management of a comprehensive, affordable, effective performance driven logistics support strategy.
LCSP	Life-Cycle Sustainment Plan	LCSP is required by DoD Instruction 5000.02 and documents the Program Manager‘s plan for formulating, implementing and executing the sustainment strategy.
LLC	Limited Liability Company	A Limited Liability Company (LLC) is a business structure allowed by state statute.
	Limited Rights	Rights to use, duplicate, or disclose technical data (TD) in whole or in part, by or for the government, with the express written permission of the party furnishing the data to be released or disclosed outside the government.
	Line Authority	DoD officials in the direct chain of authority from the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) to the program manager (PM), excluding staffs. The authority to give an order in each official’s own name.
	Line Item (Budget)	A specific program end item with its own identity (e.g., F-22 aircraft).
LOB	Line of Balance	A graphic display of scheduled units versus actual units produced over a given set of critical schedule control points on a particular day.
	Line Production	A method of plant layout in which the machines and other equipment required are arranged in the order in which they are used in the process (layout by product) regardless of the operations they perform.
LRU	Line Replaceable Unit	An essential support item removed and replaced at field level to restore an end item to an operationally ready condition.
	Line Stock	Parts or components (screws, washers, solder, common resistors, etc.), that are physically identifiable with the product but which are of very low value and, therefore, do not warrant the usual item-by-item costing techniques.
LFT&E	Live Fire Test and Evaluation	LFT&E is an assessment of the vulnerability and lethality of a system as it progresses through its design and development prior to full-rate production.
	Live Fire Test and Evaluation Report	Report prepared by the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) on survivability and lethality testing. Submitted to the Congress for covered systems prior to the decision to proceed beyond Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP). Prepared within 45 days of receiving the component LFT&E Report 2. Report prepared by the component on the results of survivability and lethality testing.
	Live Fire Test and Evaluation Strategy	The strategy for conduct of a LFT&E program. LFT&E strategy should be structured and scheduled so that any design changes resulting from the testing and analysis, described in the LFT&E Strategy, may be incorporated before proceeding Beyond Low-Rate Initial Production (BLRIP). Part of the Test and Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP).
	Live Fire Test and Evaluation Waiver	The LFT&E statute (Title 10 U.S.C § 2366) requires a LFT&E program to include Full Up System Level (FUSL) testing unless a waiver from FUSL is granted with a certification by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD(AT&L)) or the DoD component acquisition executive (CAE) that FUSL testing would be unreasonably expensive and impractical. A waiver package must be sent to the congressional defense committees prior to Milestone B; or, in the case of a system or program initiated at Milestone B, as soon as practicable after Milestone B; or if initiated at Milestone C, as soon as practicable after Milestone C.
	Local Purchase	Authorized purchase of materials, supplies, and services by a DoD organization from local commercial sources.
	Logistics and Readiness Capabilities	Parameters described in terms of mission requirements considering both wartime and peacetime logistics operations, to include measures for mission capable rate, Operational Availability (AO) and frequency, and duration of preventive or scheduled maintenance actions. Also included are combat support requirements such as battle damage repair capability, mobility requirements, expected maintenance levels, and surge and mobilization objectives and capabilities.
	Logistics Demonstration	A part of developmental test and evaluation (DT&E) used to evaluate the adequacy of the system support package and ensure the user unit has the logistical capability to achieve initial operational capability (IOC). A logistics demonstration includes the nondestructive disassembly and reassembly of a production representative system using its related peculiar test, measurement, and diagnostic equipment (TMDE); tools; training devices; technical publications; and support equipment.
LS	Logistics Support	Encompasses the logistics services, materiel, and transportation required to support the continental U.S.-based and worldwide-deployed forces. (JCIDS Manual) See Logistics Support (LS) Elements.
	Logistics Supportability	The degree of ease to which system design characteristics and planned logistics resources (including the logistics support (LS) elements) allow for the meeting of system availability andwartime usage requirements.
	Long Lead Item (LLI)/Long Lead Time (LLT) Materials	Those components of a system or piece of equipment for which the times to design and fabricate are the longest, and therefore, to which an early commitment of funds may be desirable in order to meet the earliest possible date of system completion.
	Long Range Investment Plans	A specific quantity of materiel manufactured under identical conditions and assigned an identifying lot number for use, technical, manufacturing, production, and supply purposes.
LRIP	Low-Rate Initial Production	LRIP is the point in time where manufacturing development is completed and the ability to produce a small-quantity set of articles to provide for representation at Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E).
	Lot Acceptance	This test is based on a sampling procedure to ensure that the product retains its quality. No acceptance or installation should be permitted until this test for the lot has been successfully completed.
M
	Maintainability	Maintainability is the ease with which a product can be maintained in order to isolate defects or their cause, correct defects or their cause, meet new requirements, make future maintenance easier, or cope with a changed environment.
	Maintenance	Action necessary to retain or restore an item to a specified condition. See Preventive Maintenance, Corrective Maintenance, Event Maintenance, Scheduled Maintenance, and Unscheduled Maintenance.
	Maintenance Concept	A brief description of maintenance considerations, constraints, and plans for operational support of the system/equipment under development. A preliminary maintenance concept is developed and submitted as part of the preliminary system operational concept for each alternative solution candidate by the operating command with the assistance of the implementing and supporting commands. A major driver in designing the system/equipment and the support planned.
	Maintenance Plan	A more detailed description of maintenance decisions on each repairable item candidate within the system Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). There typically are a family of maintenance plans covering each major subsystem, e.g., the radar subsystem and hydraulic subsystem. The maintenance plan is based on the Level of Repair/Analysis (LOR/A) and is the basis for each of the traditional elements of logistics support (LS).
MBI	Major Budget Issue	A top-level Service appeal of an Office of the Secretary of Defense Program (OSD) Budget Decision (PBD) affecting a Service program, or programs, from the Service Secretary directly to the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF). The Service is usually required to provide funding offsets from other programs within the Service to “buy back” programs cited as MBIs.
MDAP	Major Defense Acquisition Program	An acquisition program that is designated by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD(AT&L)) as an MDAP or estimated by the USD(AT&L) to require an eventual total expenditure for research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) of more than $365 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2000 constant dollars or, for procurement, of more than $2.19 billion in FY 2000 constant dollars.
	Make-or-Buy Program	That part of a contractor’s written plan for the development or production of an end item that outlines the subsystems, major components, assemblies, subassemblies, and parts the contractor intends to manufacture, test-treat, or assemble (make); and those the contractor intends to purchase from others (buy).
	Management Control Objectives	The goals, conditions, or levels of control a manager establishes to provide reasonable assurance that resources are safeguarded against waste, fraud, and mismanagement. For Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs), basic control objectives involve the ability to adhere to a weapon system’s cost, schedule, and performance baseline parameters.
MR	Management Reserve	An amount of the Total Allocated Budget (TAB) withheld for management control purposes, rather than designated for the accomplishment of a specific task or set of tasks. It is not a part of the Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB). Synonymous with reserve.
M&P	Manpower and Personnel	The process of identifying and acquiring military and civilian personnel with the skills and grades required to operate and support a materiel system over its lifetime at peacetime and wartime rates. One of the traditional elements of logistics support (LS).
	Manpower Estimate	An estimate of the most effective mix of DoD manpower and contract support for an acquisition program. Includes the number of personnel required to operate, maintain, support, and train for the acquisition upon full operational deployment. Once the Manpower Estimate is approved by the component manpower authority, it serves as the authoritative source for reporting manpower in other program documentation. Required for all Acquisition Category (ACAT) I programs.
	Manufacturing Management Production/Capability Review	A review accomplished by the program office (PO) during source selection to determine each competing contractor’s existing and planned manufacturing management system and productioncapacity to meet all known production requirements of the proposed system considering all current firm and projected business.
MRL	Manufacturing Readiness Level	MRLs are used with assessments and are designed to assess the maturity of a given technology, system, subsystem, or component from a manufacturing prospective.
	Materiel Availability	Percentage of the total inventory of a system operationally capable (ready for tasking) of performing an assigned mission at a given time, based on materiel condition. Development of the Materiel Availability metric is a program manager (PM) responsibility. See Availability Key Performance Parameter (KPP) and Mandatory Key Performance Parameters (KPPs).
MDD	Materiel Development Decision	A review that is the formal entry point into the acquisition process and is mandatory for all programs. A successful MDD may approve entry into the acquisition management system at any point consistent with phase-specific entrance criteria and statutory requirements but will normally be followed by a Materiel Solution Analysis (MSA) phase. The principal documents at this decision point are the Initial Capabilities Document (ICD) and study guidance for the Analysis of Alternatives (AoA). A successful MDD normally does not mean that a new acquisition program has been initiated. (DoDI 5000.02)
	Materiel Solution	Correction of a deficiency, satisfaction of a capability gap, or incorporation of new technology that results in the development, acquisition, procurement, or fielding of a new item, including ships, tanks, self-propelled weapons, aircraft, etc., and related software, spares, repair parts, and support equipment, but excluding real property, installations, and utilities, necessary to equip, operate, maintain, and support military activities without disruption as to their application for administrative or combat purposes. In the case of Family of Systems (FoS) or System of Systems (SoS) approaches, an individual materiel solution may not fully satisfy a necessary capability gap on its own. (CJCSI 3170.01H)
MSA	Materiel Solution Analysis Phase	The MSA Phase assesses potential solutions for a needed capability in an Initial Capabilities Document (ICD).
MOE	Measure of Effectiveness	Measure designed to correspond to accomplishment of mission objectives and achievement of desired results. MOEs may be further divided into Measures of Performance (MOPs) and Measures of Suitability (MOEs).
MOP	Measure of Performance	Measure of a system’s performance expressed as speed, payload, range, time-on-station, frequency, or other distinctly quantifiable performance features. Several MOPs and/or Measures of Suitability (MOSs) may be related to the achievement of a particular Measure of Effectiveness (MOE). See Measure of Suitability (MOS), Operational Suitability (OS), and Measure of Effectiveness (MOE).
MOS	Measure of Suitability	Measure of an item’s ability to be supported in its intended operational environment. MOSs typically relate to readiness or operational availability and, hence, reliability, maintainability, and the item’s support structure. Several MOSs and/or Measures of Performance (MOPs) may be related to the achievement of a particular Measure of Effectiveness (MOE). See Measure of Effectiveness (MOE) and Operational Suitability (OS).
MOA	Memorandum of Agreement	1.) In contract administration, an agreement between a program manager (PM) and a Contract Administration Office (CAO) establishing the scope of responsibility of the CAO with respect to the Earned Value Management System (EVMS) criteria surveillance functions and objectives, and/or other contract administration functions on a specific contract or program. 2.) Any written agreement in principle as to how a program will be administered.
MOU	Memorandum of Understanding	De facto agreement that is generally recognized by all partners as binding even if no legal claim could be based on the rights and obligations delineated therein.
MS-A	Milestone A	Milestone A is a Milestone Decision Authority led review at the end of the Materiel Development Phase.
MS-B	Milestone B	Milestone B is a Milestone Decision Authority led review at the end of the Technology Development Phase.
MS-C	Milestone C	Milestone C is a Milestone Decision Authority led review at the end of the Engineering, Manufacturing and Development Phase.
MDA	Milestone Decision Authority	The MDA is the overall executive sponsor responsible of any Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP).
MIPR	Military Interdepartmental Purchase Request	An order issued by one military service to another to procure services, supplies, or equipment for the requiring service. The MIPR (DD Form 448) may be accepted on a direct citation or reimbursable basis.
MUA	Military Utility Assessment	A MUA is an assessment of the operational utility of a system.
	Mission Reliability	The probability that a system will perform its required mission-critical functions for the duration of a specified mission under conditions stated in the mission profile.
MRB	Mission Requirements Board	Manages the national requirements process that reviews, validates, and approves national requirements for future intelligence capabilities and systems. It is the senior validation and approval authority for future intelligence systems funded within the National Foreign Intelligence Program (NFIP), and provides advice and counsel on future requirements funded outside that body.
	Mission-Critical Information System	A system that meets the definitions of “information system” and “National Security System” (NSS) in the Clinger-Cohen Act (CCA), the loss of which would cause the stoppage of warfighter operations or direct mission support of warfighter operations. The designation of mission critical should be made by a component head, a combatant commander (CCDR), or designee. (DoDI 5000.02)
	Mission-Essential Information System	A system that meets the definition of “information system” in the Clinger-Cohen Act (CCA), that the acquiring component head or designee determines is basic and necessary for the accomplishment of the organizational mission. The designation of mission essential should be made by the component head, a combatant commander (CCDR), or designee. (DoDI 5000.02)
	Mock Up	A model, built to scale, of a machine, apparatus, or weapon. It is used in examining the construction or critical clearances, in testing a new development, or in teaching personnel how to operate or maintain the actual machine, apparatus, or weapon.
M&S	Modeling and Simulation	Modeling and Simulation (M&S) is a tool used in systems engineering to gather information to make decisions.
	Modification	A configuration change to a produced Configuration Item (CI). Any modification that is of sufficient cost and complexity that it could itself qualify as an Acquisition Category (ACAT) I or ACAT IA program will be considered as a separate acquisition effort for management purposes.
	Modular Contracting	A contracting approach under which the need for a system is satisfied in successive acquisitions of interoperable increments. Each increment complies with common or commercially acceptable standards applicable to information technology (IT) so that the increments are compatible with the other increments of IT comprising the system.
MYP	Multiyear Procurement	A method of competitively purchasing up to 5 years of requirements in one contract, which is funded annually as appropriations permit. If necessary to cancel the remaining quantities in any year, the contractor is paid an agreed-upon portion of the unamortized non-recurring start-up costs. Must be approved by Congress.
N
NDS	National Defense Strategy	The NDS is used in the PPBE process to establish the objectives for the plans for military force structure, force modernization, business processes, supporting infrastructure, and required resources (funding and manpower).
NMS	National Military Strategy	Joint Strategic Planning System (JSPS) document developed by the Joint Staff (JS). Provides the advice of the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), in consultation with the other members of the JCS and the combatant commanders (CCDRs), to the President, the National Security Council (NSC), and the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) on the NMS. It is designed to assist the SECDEF in preparation of the Joint Programming Guidance (JPG).
NSS	National Security System	This document is produced yearly by the National Security Council (NSC) and signed by the President. It provides grand strategy and overarching national security goals and objectives for the United States.
	Near-Critical Path (CP)	In the context of Earned Value Management (EVM), the lowest float/slack paths of discrete work packages and planning packages (or lower-level tasks/activities) in the network that have the longest total duration nearest to the CP. Using nearest paths, vice a set value, allows the near CP to range over different float values based on the latest status of the schedule, i.e., the float/slack values associated with near-CPs may differ from schedule update to schedule update depending on the status of the schedule.
NR-KPP	Net-Ready Key Performance Parameter	The Net-Ready Key Performance Parameter assesses the net-ready attributes required for both the technical exchange of information and the end-to-end operational effectiveness of that exchange
NCC	Negotiated Contract Cost	The estimated cost negotiated in a Cost-Plus Fixed-Fee (CPFF) contract, or the negotiated contract target cost in either a Fixed-Price Incentive (FPI) contract or a Cost-Plus Incentive-Fee (CPIF) contract.
	Network Schedule	A schedule format in which the activities and milestones are represented along with the interdependencies between work packages and planning packages (or lower-level tasks/activities). It expresses the logic (i.e., predecessors and successors) of how the program will be accomplished. Network schedules are the basis for critical path (CP) analysis, a method for identification and assessment of schedule priorities and impacts. At a minimum, all discrete work is included in the network. (Government-Industry Earned Value Management Working Group)
NAF	Non-Appropriated Funds	Monies derived from sources other than congressional appropriations, primarily from the sale of goods and services to DoD military and civilian personnel and their dependents and used to support or provide essential morale, welfare, recreational, and certain religious and education programs. Another distinguishing characteristic of these funds is that there is no accountability for them in the fiscal records of the U.S. Treasury.
NDI	Non-Developmental Item	1.) An NDI is any previously developed item of supply used exclusively for government purposes by a federal agency, a State or local government, or a foreign government with which the United States has a mutual defense cooperation agreement. 2.) Any item described in item 1 that requires only minor modifications or modifications of the type customarily available in the commercial marketplace in order to meet the requirements of the procuring department or agency. 3.) Any item of supply being produced that does not meet the requirements of items 1 or 2 solely because the item is not yet in use. (FAR 2.101) See Commercially Available Off-The-Shelf (COTS).
NDS	Non-Developmental Software	NDS is any software that is not legacy software for the program, or is not developed as part of the effort being accomplished by the developer team
	Non-Major Defense Acquisition Program	A program other than a Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP), i.e., Acquisition Category (ACAT) II, III and IV programs.
	Non-Materiel Solution	A non-materiel solution is a resolution to an identified need that doesn’t require a material solution or a system to be developed.
	Non-Profit Organization	A nonprofit organization is an organization whose goal do not include a personal profit for its owners or organization. Nonprofit organizations often do strive for internal gains, but they use them to meet their social or educational goals rather than for personal profit.
NRC	Non-Recurring Costs	1.) Costs that are not proportional to the number of units produced. 2.) A one-time cost that will occur on a periodic basis for the same organization. NRCs include preliminary design effort, design engineering, and all partially completed reporting elements manufactured for tests. 3.) Training of Service instructor personnel.
	Nuclear Hardening	The employment of any design or manufacturing technique applied to an item/system that allows it to resist malfunction (temporary or permanent) and/or degraded performance induced by nuclear weapon effects. Such systems are considered to be nuclear hardened. (DoDI 3150.09)
	Nuclear Survivability	The capability of a system to withstand exposure to a nuclear environment without suffering loss of ability to accomplish its designated mission throughout its life cycle. Nuclear survivability may be accomplished by hardening, timely re-supply, redundancy, mitigation techniques (including operational techniques), or a combination thereof. (DoDI 3150.09)
	Numerical Control	Computer-controlled machine operation that provides high repeatability for multiple process steps.
	Nunn-McCurdy Breach	Refers to Title 10, U.S.C. § 2433, Unit Cost Reports (UCRs). This amendment to Title 10 was introduced by Senator Sam Nunn and Congressman Dave McCurdy in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 1982. Requires that Acquisition Category I (ACAT I) program managers (PMs) maintain current estimates of Program Acquisition Unit Cost (PAUC) and Average Procurement Unit Cost (APUC). If the PAUC or APUC increases by 25 percent or more over the current Acquisition Program Baseline (APB) objective, or 50 percent or more over the original APB objective, the program must be terminated unless the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) certifies to Congress that the program is essential to national security.
O
	Obligation	1.) Binding agreement that will result in outlays immediately or in the future. 2.) Amount representing orders placed, contracts awarded, services received, and similar transactions during an accounting period that will require payment during the same, or a future, period. Includes payments for which obligations previously have not been recorded and adjustments for differences between obligations previously recorded and actual payments to liquidate those obligations. The amount of obligations incurred is segregated into undelivered orders and accrued expenditures—paid or unpaid. For purposes of matching a disbursement to its proper obligation, the term obligation refers to each separate obligation amount identified by a separate line of accounting. (DoD 7000.14-R)
OA	Obligation Authority	The sum of budget authority provided for a given fiscal year (FY), balances of amounts brought forward from prior years that remain available for obligation, and amounts authorized to be credited to a specific fund or account during that year, including transfers between funds or accounts. (DoD 7000.14-R) See Budget Authority (BA).
	Obsolescence	A lack of availability of an item or raw material resulting from statutory and process changes, as well as new designs. Obsolescence deals with the process or condition by which a piece of equipment becomes no longer useful, or a form and function no longer current or available for production or repair. Implementation of new technology causes older technology to become less supportable because of the diminished availability of parts and suppliers. Mitigation practices include reviewing proposed parts lists for obsolescence and being proactive in the engineering design process prior to production. (DoD 4140.1-R)
	Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (OUSD(AT&L))	The OUSD(AT&L) is organized to meet the Under Secretary’s statutory and regulatory responsibilities. Several organizational elements report directly to the USD(AT&L) including the Deputy USD for Acquisition and Technology (DUSD(A&T)); the Director, Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E); the Deputy USD for Logistics and Materiel Readiness (DUSD(L&MR)); the Deputy USD for Business Transformation; the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological (ATSD(NCB)) Defense Programs; Deputy USD for Installations and Environment (DUSD(I&E)); and the Director, Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Also, reporting to staff elements within OUSD(AT&L) are a number of Defense agencies such as the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
	Offset Agreements	One of various industrial and commercial compensation practices required of defense contractors for foreign governments as a condition for the purchase of defense articles/services in either government-to-government or direct commercial sales. The responsibility for negotiating offset arrangements resides with the U.S. firm involved.
	Off-The-Shelf	Procurement of existing systems or equipment without a research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) program or with minor development necessary to make system suitable for DoD needs. May be commercial system/equipment or one already in DoD inventory. See Commercial Item (CI) and Non-Developmental Item (NDI).
	Off/On-Year	In the context of the Planning, Programming, Budget, and Execution (PPBE) process, an odd calendar year—for example, 2013. Typically, during an Off-Year, the Guidance for Development of the Force (GDF) and Joint Programming Guidance (JPG) are issued only at the discretion of the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF). During Odd-Years, the focus is on the submittal of changes to the on-year baseline in accordance with guidance issued by the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) (USD(C))and the Director, Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE).
	One-Year Appropriations	Appropriations generally used for current administrative, maintenance, and operational programs, including the procurement of items classified as “expense.” These appropriations are available for obligation for one Fiscal Year (FY).
OSS	Open Source Software	OSS is computer software that includes source code that can be used and modified by the user without paying licensing fees or royalties.
	Open Standards	Widely accepted and supported standards set by recognized standards organizations or the marketplace. These standards support interoperability, portability, and scalability and are equally available to the general public at no cost or with a moderate license fee.
	Open System	A system that implements specifications maintained by an open, public consensus process for interfaces, services, and support formats, to enable properly engineered components to be utilized across a wide range of systems with minimal change, to interoperate with other components on local and remote systems, and to interact with users in a manner that facilitates portability.
	Open Systems Acquisition of Weapons Systems	An integrated technical and business strategy that defines key interfaces for a system (or a piece of equipment under development) in accordance with those adopted by formal consensus bodies (recognized industry standards’ bodies) as specifications and standards, or commonly accepted (de facto) standards (both company proprietary and non-proprietary) if they facilitate utilization of multiple suppliers.
OSE	Open Systems Environment	A comprehensive set of interfaces, services, and supporting formats, plus aspects of interoperability of application, as specified by information technology (IT) standards and profiles. An OSE enables information systems to be developed, operated, and maintained independent of application-specific technical solutions or vendor products.
OB	Operating Budget	The annual budget of an activity stated in terms of Budget Classification Code (BCC), functional/subfunctional categories, and cost accounts. It contains estimates of the total value of resources required for the performance of the mission including reimbursable terms of total work units identified by cost accounts.
	Operating Costs	Those program costs necessary to operate and maintain the capability. These costs include military personnel and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) costs.
	Operating Time	The time during which the system is operating in a manner acceptable to the operator.
OA	Operational Assessment	An evaluation of operational effectiveness (OE) and operational suitability (OS) made by an independent operational test activity, with user support as required, on other than production systems.
Ao	Operational Availability	The degree (expressed as a decimal between 0 and 1, or the percentage equivalent) to which one can expect a piece of equipment or weapon system to work properly when it is required, that is, the percent of time the equipment or weapon system is available for use.
	Operational Capability	The measure of the results of the mission, given the condition of the systems during the mission (dependability).
OE	Operational Effectiveness	Measure of the overall ability of a system to accomplish a mission when used by representative personnel in the environment planned or expected for operational employment of the system considering organization, doctrine, tactics, supportability, survivability, vulnerability, and threat. (JCIDS Manual)
	Operational Requirements	User- or user-representative-generated validated needs developed to address mission area deficiencies, evolving threats, emerging technologies, or weapon system cost improvements. Operational performance requirements from the Capability Development Document (CDD) and Capability Production Document (CPD) form the foundation for weapon system technical specifications and contract requirements.
OS	Operational Suitability	The degree to which a system can be placed and sustained satisfactorily in field use with consideration being given to availability, compatibility, transportability, interoperability, reliability, wartime usage rates, maintainability, safety, human factors, habitability, manpower, logistics supportability, natural environmental effects and impacts, documentation, and training requirements. (JCIDS Manual)
	Operational System Development	Budget Activity (BA) 7 within a research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation account that includes development efforts to upgrade systems that have been fielded or have received approval for Full-Rate Production (FRP) and for which funding is anticipated in the Current Year (CY) or subsequent Fiscal Year (FY). A logical progression of program phases and development and production funding must be evident in the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) consistent with DoD’s full funding policy. (DoD 7000.14-R)
OTRR	Operational Test Readiness Review	The OTRR assess if a system should proceed into Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E).
OUA	Operational Utility Assessment (OUA)	The OUA report describes how a Joint Capability Technology Demonstration’s (JCTD’s) products affect the resolution of an Operational Problem (OP) and fulfill operational Desired Capabilities (DC). It declares the level of operational utility according to the Concept of Operations (CONOPs) and tactics, techniques, and procedure (TTPs); and provides post-JCTD transition, CONOPs and TTP, and doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities (DOTMLPF) recommendations. The OUA report and applicable Initial Capabilities Document (ICD) [if required in lieu of OUA Report] and/or Capability Development Document (CDD) are needed to meet the requirements of the Joint Staff (JS) Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) process.
OV	Operational Views	Description of tasks and activities, operational elements, and information exchanges required to accomplish DoD missions. DoD missions include both warfighting missions and business processes. The OV contains graphical and textual products that comprise an identification of the operational nodes and elements, assigned tasks and activities, and information flows between nodes. It defines the type of information exchanged, the frequency of exchange, which tasks and activities are supported by the information exchanges, and the nature of information exchanges (DoDAF and CJCSI 6212.01.01E)
	Operations and Support (O&S) Cost	Those resources required to operate and support a system, subsystem, or a major component during its useful life in the operational inventory.
	Operations and Support Phase	The Operations and Support Phase is where a system is used and supported by users in the field.
OPSEC	Operations Security	OPSEC is a process that identifies critical information to determine if friendly actions can be observed by adversary intelligence systems, determines if information obtained by adversaries could be interpreted to be useful to them, and then executes selected measures that eliminate or reduce adversary exploitation of friendly critical information.
	Operator	In the context of Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS), an operational command or agency that employs the acquired system for the benefit of users. Operators may also be users. (JCIDS Manual)
	Organizational-Level Maintenance	The maintenance and repair performed by the activity level (organization), which uses the system’s equipment within the activity’s capability.
	Original Budget	The budget established at, or near, the time the contract was signed, based on the Negotiated Contract Cost (NCC).
	Outlays	The amount of checks issued or other payments made (including advances to others), net of refunds and reimbursements. Outlays are net of amounts that are adjustments to obligational authority. The terms “expenditure” and “net disbursement” are frequently used interchangeably with the term “outlay.” Gross outlays are disbursements and net outlays are disbursements (net of refunds) minus reimbursements collected. See Expenditure.
OIPT	Overarching Integrated Product Team	An Integrated Product Team (IPT) led by the appropriate Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) director, and composed of the program manager (PM), program executive officer (PEO), component staff, user/user representative, and OSD and Joint Staff (JS) members involved in the oversight and review of a particular Acquisition Category (ACAT) ID or ACAT IAM program.
	Oversight	Review activity by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Joint Staff (JS), DoD Components, and congressional committees of DoD programs to determine current status, ascertain if the law or other desires of Congress are being followed, or as a basis for possible future legislation.
	Ownership Cost Key System Attribute (KSA)	Provides balance to the sustainment solution by ensuring that operations and support (O&S) costs associated with availability are considered in making decisions. The Cost Analysis Improvement Group (CAIG) O&E Cost Estimating Structure will be used to support this key system attribute. At a minimum the following cost elements are required: energy (fuel (fully burdened cost), petroleum, lubricants, and electricity), maintenance, sustaining support (except for system-specific training), and continuing system improvements. All applicable costs, regardless of funding source, are to be included. Development of the Ownership Cost metric is a program manager (PM) responsibility. (JCIDS Manual)

 

Acronym	Title	Definition
P
	Packaging	The process and procedures used to protect materiel. It includes cleaning, drying, preserving, packing, and unitization.
PHST	Packing, Handling, Storage, and Transportation	The resources, processes, procedures, design considerations, and methods to ensure all system, equipment, and support items are preserved, packaged, handled, and transported properly. This includes environmental considerations, equipment preservation requirements for short- and longterm storage, and transportability. One of the traditional logistics support (LS) elements.
	Parametric Cost Estimate	A cost estimating methodology using statistical relationships between historical costs and other program variables such as system physical or performance characteristics, contractor output measures, or manpower loading.
	Participating Service	A military service that supports the lead Service in the development of a joint acquisition program by its contribution of personnel and/or funds.
	Peer Reviews	Independent management reviews of supplies and services contracts. Pre-award reviews are conducted on supplies and services contracts; post-award reviews are conducted on services contracts. The Director, Defense Procurement, Acquisition Policy and Strategic Sourcing (DPAP), in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (OUSD(AT&L)), conducts peer reviews for contracts with an estimated value of $1 billion or more (including options). DoD components conduct peer reviews for contracts valued at less than $1 billion.
	Performance	Those operational and support characteristics of the system that allow it to effectively and efficiently perform its assigned mission over time. The support characteristics of the system include both supportability aspects of the design and the support elements necessary for system operation.
PBA	Performance-Based Acquisitions	PBA is a technique for structuring all aspects of an acquisition around the purpose and outcome desired as opposed to the process by which the work is to be performed.
PBA	Performance-Based Agreements	A PBA documents the negotiated and agreed upon level of support and associated funding required to meet performance requirements. A PBA with the user states the objectives that form the basis of the Performance-Based Life-Cycle Product Support effort to meet operational requirements.
	Performance-Based Life-Cycle Product Support	Performance-Based Life-Cycle Product Support implementation captures the range of capability solutions that could be employed on a program regarding support/logistics.
PBL	Performanced-Based Logistics	Performance-Based Logistics is a strategy that optimizes total system availability while minimizing cost and logistics footprint.
PMB	Performance Measurement Baseline	PMB is an important tool in earned value management used by Program Managers and Systems Engineers in the Technical Assessment Process to appraise a program technical progress.
	Physical Architecture	The physical architecture is the physical layout of a system and its components in a schema. The physical architecture should be part of the allocated and product baselines.
PCA	Physical Configuration Audit	Physical examination of the actual configuration of the item being produced. It verifies that the related design documentation matches the item as specified in the contract.
	Pilot Production	Production line normally established during the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) or Production and Deployment (P&D) phases to test new manufacturing methods and procedures. Normally funded by research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) until the line is proven.
	Planning	Planning is determining what needs to be done, by whom, and by when, in order to fulfill one’s assigned responsibility. It is important to prepare a plan keeping in view the necessities of the organization or project.
PP	Planning Package	In the context of Earned Value Management (EVM), a holding account (within a control account) for budget for future work that is not yet practicable to plan at the work package level. The planning package budget is time-phased in accordance with known schedule requirements (due dates) for resource planning and plans are refined as detail requirements become clearer and time to begin work draws nearer.
PBE	Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Process	The primary Resource Allocation Process (RAP) of DoD.
	Post-Critical Design Review (CDR) Assessment	Formal review of the results of the Critical Design Review (CDR) and CDR Report submitted by the program manager (PM) to the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) that provides an overall assessment of design maturity and a summary of the system-level CDR results.
	Post-Deployment Review (PDR)	Conducted by DoD components beginning at Initial Operational Capability (IOC) and then nominally every 3 to 5 years or when precipitated by changes in requirements/design or performance problems. These periodic assessments verify whether the fielded system continues to meet or exceed thresholds and objectives for cost, performance, and support parameters approved at the full-rate production (FRP) decision.
	Post Independent Analysis	It’s the final analysis in the Capabilities Based Assessment (CBA) which reviews the previous three functional analyses and selects an approach or approaches that best closes a capability gap(s).
	Post-Preliminary Design Review (PDR) Assessment	Formal assessment of the results of the PDR, PDR Report, and program manager’s (PM’s) assessment by the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) to determine whether remedial action is necessary to achieve Acquisition Program Baseline (APB) objectives.
PDR	Preliminary Design Revew	The PDR is a technical assessment that establishes the physically allocated baseline of a system to ensure a system in operationally effective.
	Preliminary Design Review (PDR) Report	Formal documentation of the outcome of the PDR provided to the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA). The report should include recommended requirements trades, as appropriate, and an assessment of cost, schedule, and performance risk associated with the system design.
P3I	Preplanned Product Improvement	Planned future improvement of developmental systems for which design considerations are effected during development to enhance future application of projected technology. Includes improvements planned for ongoing systems that go beyond the current performance envelope toachieve a needed operational capability.
PPQT	Pre-Production Qualification Test	The formal contractual tests that ensure design integrity over the specified operational and environmental range. These tests usually use prototype or preproduction hardware fabricated to the proposed production design specifications and drawings. Such tests include contractual reliability and maintainability (R&M) demonstrations and tests required prior to production release.
	Preproposal Conference	In negotiated procurement, a meeting held with potential contractors a few days after Requests for Proposals (RFPs) have been sent out, and held to promote uniform interpretation of work statements and specifications by all prospective contractors.
PB	President’s Budget	The budget for a particular fiscal year (FY) transmitted to the Congress by the President (no later than the first Monday in February) in accordance with the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, as amended. Some elements of the budget, such as the estimates for the legislative branch and the judiciary, are required to be included without review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) or approval by the President. (DoD 7000.14-R)
	Presolicitation Conference	A meeting held with potential contractors prior to a formal solicitation, to discuss technical and other problems connected with a proposed procurement. The conference is also used to elicit the interest of prospective contractors in pursuing the task.
	Preventive Maintenance	All actions performed in an attempt to retain an item in a specified condition by providing systematic inspection, detection, and prevention of incipient failures.
	Prime Contractor	The entity with whom an agent of the United States enters into a prime contract for the purposes of obtaining supplies, materials, equipment, or services of any kind.
PSA	Principal Staff Assistants	The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) PSAs are the Under Secretaries of Defense (USDs); the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E); the Assistant Secretaries of Defense (ASDs); the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E); the General Counsel of the Department of Defense; the Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Defense; the Assistants to the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF); and the OSD Directors or equivalents, who report directly to the SECDEF or the Deputy Secretary of Defense (DEPSECDEF).
	Privity	A direct contractual relationship between the parties. A prime contractor has privity with an agent of United States and also with its subcontractors that are under contract to it. The government does not have privity with the prime contractor’s subcontractors by virtue of its contract with the prime contractor. See Prime Contract and Prime Contractor.
Pk	Probability of Kill	The lethality of a weapon system. Generally refers to armaments, e.g., missiles and ordnance. Usually the statistical probability that the weapon will detonate close enough to the target with enough effectiveness to destroy the target.
	Process	1.) The combination of people, equipment, materials, methods, and environment that produces output—a given product or service. A process can involve any aspect of a business. 2.) A key tool for managing processes is statistical process control, a planned series of actions of operations that advances a material or procedure from one stage of completion to another. 3.) A planned and controlled treatment that subjects materials to the influence of one or more types of energy for the time required to bring about the desired reactions or results.
	Process Layout	A method of plant layout in which the machines, equipment, and areas for performing the same or similar operations are grouped together, i.e., layout by function.
	Process Specification	This type of specification is applicable to a service that is performed on a product or material. Examples of processes are heat treatment, welding, plating, packing, microfilming, marking, etc. Process specifications cover manufacturing techniques that require a specific procedure in order that a satisfactory result may be achieved.
	Procurement	Act of buying goods and services for the government.
	Procurement Cost	Equal to the sum of the procurement cost for prime mission equipment, the procurement cost for support items, and the procurement cost for initial spares.
PDP	Procurement Data Package	Includes documentation prepared expressly for the identification, description, and verification of items, materials, supplies, and services that are to be purchased, inspected, packaged, packed and supplied, or delivered to users.
PLT	Procurement Lead Time	The interval in months between the initiation of procurement action and receipt into the supply system of the production model (excluding prototypes) purchased as the result of such actions, and is composed of two elements: production lead-time and administrative lead-time.
PR	Procurement Request	Document that describes the required supplies or services so that a procurement can be initiated. Some procuring activities actually refer to the document by this title; others use different titles, such as Procurement Directive. Combined with specifications, the Statement of Work (SOW) and Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL), it is called the PR Package, a basis for solicitation.
	Procuring Activity	Unless agency regulations specify otherwise, the term shall be synonymous with contracting activity.
PCO	Procuring Contracting Officer	The individual authorized to enter into contracts for supplies and services on behalf of the government by sealed bids or negotiations, and who is responsible for overall procurement under the contract.
	Problem Solving	Problem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping. Considered the most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of more routine or fundamental skills. Problem solving occurs when an organism or an artificial intelligence system needs to move from a given state to a desired goal state.
	Producibility	The relative ease of manufacturing an item or system. This relative ease is governed by the characteristics and features of a design that enables economical fabrication, assembly, inspection, and testing using available manufacturing techniques.
PEP	Producibility Engineering and Planning	Applies to production engineering tasks to ensure a smooth transition from development into production. PEP, a systems and planning engineering approach, assures that an item can be produced in the required quantities and in the specified time frame, efficiently and economically, and will meet necessary performance objectives within its design and specification constraints. As an essential part of all engineering design, it is intended to identify potential manufacturing problems and suggest design and production changes or schedule tradeoffs that would facilitate the production process.
	Producibility Review	A review of the design of a specific hardware item or system to determine the relative ease of producing it using available production technology considering the elements of fabrication, assembly, inspection, and test.
	Product	1.) The result of research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) in terms of hardware or software being produced (manufactured). Also known as an end item. 2.) The item stipulated in a contract to be delivered under the contract (i.e., service, study, or hardware).
	Product Assurance Plan	Implements a product assurance program including reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM); quality hardware and software; and system assessment to ensure user satisfaction, mission and operational effectiveness, and performance to specified requirements.
	Product Baseline	The initially approved documentation describing all of the necessary functional and physical characteristics of the configuration item (CI); any required joint and combined operations; the selected functional and physical characteristics designated for production acceptance testing; and tests necessary for deployment/installation, support, training, and disposal of the CI. This baseline is usually initiated at the Critical Design Review (CDR) and finalized at the Physical Configuration Audit (PCA), and normally includes product, process, and material specifications, engineering drawings, and other related data.
	Product Centers	Major subordinate organizations reporting to Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC): Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC), Electronics Systems Center (ESC), Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), and the Air Armament Center (AAC).
	Product Configuration Identification	The current approved technical documentation that defines the configuration of a configuration item (CI) during the production, operation, maintenance, and support phases of its life cycle and that prescribes that necessary for form, fit, and function (F3) characteristics of a CI; the selected functional characteristics selected for production acceptance testing; and the production acceptance tests.
PI	Product Improvement	Effort to incorporate a configuration change involving engineering and testing effort on end items and depot repairable components, or changes on other-than-developmental items to increase system or combat effectiveness or extend useful military life. Usually results from feedback from the users.
	Product Manufacturing Breakdown	Takes the product physical description and decomposes it into demands for specific types of manufacturing capability. This breakdown establishes the baseline for determination of the types of personnel and manufacturing facilities that will be required. It can also serve as the basis for establishing the time requirements for individual manufacturing operations involved in developing the required schedule relationships.
PSI	Product Support Integrator	Individual who performs as a formally bound agent (e.g., under a contract, Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or Service-Level Agreement (SLA)) charged with integrating all sources of support, public and private, defined within the scope of Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) agreements to achieve the documented outcomes.
	Production	The process of converting raw materials by fabrication into required material. It includes the functions of production-scheduling, inspection, quality control (QC), and related processes.
PAT&E	Production Acceptance Test and Evaluation	Test and Evaluation (T&E) of production items to demonstrate that items procured fulfill requirements and specifications of the procuring contract or agreements.
	Production Article	The end item under initial or Full-Rate Production (FRP).
PD	Production and Deployment Phase	The fourth phase of the life cycle as defined and established by DoDI 5000.02. This phase consists of two efforts: Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) and Full-Rate Production and Deployment (FRP&D) separated by a Full-Rate Production Decision Review (FRPDR). It begins after a successful Milestone C review. The purpose of this phase is to achieve an operational capability that satisfies the mission need.
	Production Configuration System	A system that has been manufactured using the production equipment and techniques. It may be either a Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) or Full-Rate Production (FRP) item.
	Production Control	The procedure of planning, routing, scheduling, dispatching, and expediting the flow of materials, parts, subassemblies, and assemblies within the plant from the start of production to the finished product in an orderly and efficient manner.
	Production Engineering	The application of design and analysis techniques to produce a specified product. Included are the functions of planning, specifying, and coordinating the application of required resources; performing analyses of producibility and production operations, processes, and systems; applying new manufacturing methods, tooling, and equipment; controlling the introduction of engineering changes; and employing cost control techniques.
	Production Management	The effective use of resources to produce on schedule the required number of end units that meet specified quality, performance, and cost. It includes, but is not limited to, industrial resource analysis, producibility assessment, producibility engineering, and planning, production engineering, industrial preparedness planning, post-production planning, and productivity enhancement.
	Production Plan	The document that describes the employment of the manufacturing resources to produce therequired products or systems on time and within cost constraints.
PQT	Production Qualification Test	A technical test completed prior to the Full-Rate Production (FRP) decision to ensure the effectiveness of the manufacturing process, equipment, and procedures.
	Production Readiness	The state or condition or preparedness of a system to proceed into production. A system is ready for production when the producibility of the production design and the managerial and physical preparations necessary for initiating and sustaining a viable production effort have progressed to the point where a production commitment can be made without incurring unacceptable risks that will breach thresholds of schedule, performance, cost, or other established criteria.
PRR	Production Readiness Review	A formal examination of a program to determine if the design is ready for production and if the producer has accomplished adequate production planning. PRRs are normally performed as a series of reviews toward the end of Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase. Under some circumstances a PRR may also be appropriate in the Production and Deployment (P&D) phase. (Defense Acquisition Guidebook)
	Production Representative System	A system that accurately represents the production configuration system for both hardware and software, such as a mature Engineering Development Model (EDM), but not produced on a final production line, e.g., hand tooled, although some components may be from production tooling.
	Productivity	The actual rate of output or production per unit of time worked.
	Program (Acquisition)	A defined effort funded by research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) and/or procurement appropriations with the express objective of providing a new or improved capability in response to a stated mission need or deficiency.
PBD	Program Budget Decision	A budget decision document issued during the joint review of Service budget submissions by analysts of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). PBDs reflect the decisions of the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) as to appropriate program and funding to be included in the annual defense budget request which, in turn, is included in the President’s Budget (PB). (DoD 7000.14-R)
PCP	Program Change Proposal/Request	PCP is a proposal for out-of-cycle changes to data recorded in the approved Future Years Defense Program (FYDP).
	Program Cost	The total of all expenditures, in any appropriation and fund, directly related to Automated Information System (AIS) definition, design, development, and deployment incurred from the beginning of the Materiel Solution Analysis (MSA) phase through deployment at each separate site.
PDM	Program Decision Memorandum	A document containing the decisions by the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) reflecting broad strategic trades related to the program and resource levels identified in the Program Objectives Memorandum (POM). (DoD 7000.14-R)
PDR	Program Deviation Report	A report describing acquisition program baseline (APB) deviations (also called “breaches”) to the defense acquisition executive (DAE) and component acquisition executives (CAEs).
PE	Program Element	The basic building block of the 11 major programs of the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP).
PEM	Program Element Monitor	Person within Headquarters (HQ), U.S. Air Force, office of primary responsibility who is directlyresponsible for a given program and all documentation needed to harmonize the program in the budget.
PERT	Program Evaluation Review Technique	A technique for management of a program through to completion by constructing a network model of integrated activities and events and periodically evaluating the time/cost implications of progress.
PEO	Program Executive Officer	A military or civilian official who has responsibility for directing several Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) and for assigned major system and non-major system acquisition programs.
PMA	Program Management Agreement	PMAs establish achievable and measurable annual plans that are fully resourced and reflect the approved program. PMAs must be prepared for Acquisition Category (ACAT) I and II programs after DoD makes the investment decision to pursue a new program and the program manager (PM) has been assigned.
PMP	Program Management Plan (PMP)	The document developed and issued by an Air Force program manager (PM) that shows the integrated time-phased actions and resources required to complete the task.
PM	Program Manager	The Program Manager (PM) is the designated individual with the responsibility for and authority to accomplish program objectives for the development, production, and sustainment to meet the user’s operational needs. The PM is accountable for the overall cost, schedule, and performance of a program and reporting to the Milestone Decision Authority (MDA).
POM	Program Objectives Memorandum	The final product of the programming process within DoD, a component’s POM displays the resource allocation decisions of the military department in response to, and in accordance with, the Guidance for Development of the Force (GDF) and Joint Programming Guidance (JPG). The POM shows programmed needs 6 years hence (i.e., in FY 2008, POM 2010-2015 was submitted). (DoD 7000.14-R)
POE	Program Office Estimate	A detailed estimate of acquisition and ownership costs normally required for high-level decisions. The estimate is performed early in the program and serves as the basepoint for all subsequent tracking and auditing purposes.
	Program Work Breakdown Structure	The WBS that encompasses an entire program. It consists of at least three levels of the program with associated definitions and is used by the government program manager (PM) and contractor to develop and extend a Contract Work Breakdown Structure (CWBS). Examples of WBSs for various items of defense materiel that may be used as a guide for acquisition programs are contained in Military Handbook (MIL-HDBK) 881.
	Proprietary Right	A broad contractor term used to describe data belonging to the contractor. These data could be intellectual property, financial data, etc. This is generally a term used in the submission of a proposal to protect the contractor’s sensitive information from disclosure and is not a category of rights applicable to technical data (TD) under all contracts.
	Protest	A protest means a written objection by an interested party.
	Prototype	An original or model on which a later system/item is formed or based. Early prototypes may be built and evaluated during the Technology Development (TD) Phase, or later in the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) Phase, or be the result of a Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) or Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD), and tested prior to Milestone C decision. Selected prototyping may continue after Milestone C, as required, to identify and resolve specific design or manufacturing risks, or in support of evolutionary acquisition (EA).
PO	Purchase Order	A PO is a commercial document issued by a buyer to a seller, indicating types, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services the seller will provide to the buyer.
Q
	Quadrennial Defense Report (QDR)	Contains the findings and recommendations of the Quadrennial Defense Review. The QDR Report is due to Congress concurrent with the President’s Budget (PB) submission during the second year of a new presidential administration. The Report is signed by the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) and includes an assessment by the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS). See Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR).
QDR	Quadrennial Defense Review	The QDR is a legislatively-mandated review of Department of Defense strategy and priorities
	Qualification	The formal process by which a manufacturer’s product is examined for compliance with the requirements of a source control drawing for the purpose of approving the manufacturer as a source of supply.
QML	Qualified Manufacturers List	A list of manufacturers who have had their products examined and tested and who have satisfied all applicable qualification requirements for that product.
QPL	Qualified Products List	A list of products that are pretested in advance of actual procurement to determine which suppliers can comply properly with specification requirements.
	Quality	The composite of materiel attributes including performance features and characteristics of a production or service to satisfy a customer’s given need.
QA	Quality Assurance	QA is a monitoring approach that evaluates various aspects of an acquisition project, or service to determine if the minimum standards of quality are being attained by the production process.
	Quality Audit	A systematic examination of the acts and decisions with respects to quality in order to independently verify or evaluate the operational requirements of the quality program or the specification or contract requirements for a product or service.
QC	Quality Control	The system or procedure used to check product quality throughout the acquisition process.
QFD	Quality Function Deployment	A graphical technique that shows the relationships between system requirements and proposed design solutions. This technique identifies tradeoffs, shows where design solutions may conflict, and/or where proposed solutions will not meet requirements.
	Quality in Supply Management	The measure of providing products that are free from defects, deficiencies, and significant variations in the purchase-buyer transaction.
	Quality Program	A program that is developed, planned, and managed to carry out, cost-effectively, all efforts to affect the quality of material and services from concept through technology and system development, production, deployment, and disposal.
R
	RDT&E (Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation) Management Support	Budget Activity (BA) 6 within an RDT&E appropriation account that includes RDT&E efforts and funds to sustain and/or modernize the installations or operations required for general RDT&E. Test ranges, military construction, maintenance support of laboratories, Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of test aircraft and ships, and studies and analysis in support of the DoD RDT&E program are all funded by this BA. (DoD 7000.14-R)
	Reappropriation	Congressional action to restore obligational availability, whether for the same or different purposes, of all or part of the unobligated portion of budget authority that has expired or would otherwise expire in an annual or multi-year account. Obligational authority in a current appropriation may also be extended by a subsequent appropriation act.
	Reclama	Directives to standing committees contained in congressional budget resolutions calling for certain dollar savings and a deadline for reporting legislation to achieve the savings. Omnibus reconciliation bill incorporating these changes is introduced and acted on in both Houses.
	Reconstitution	Involves forming, training, and fielding new fighting units. This includes initially drawing on cadre-type units and laid-up military assets; mobilizing previously trained or new manpower; and activating the industrial base (IB) on a large scale. Reconstitution also involves maintaining technology, doctrine, training, experienced military personnel, and innovation necessary to retain the competitive edge in decisive areas of potential military competition.
	Reimbursable	An expenditure made for another agency, fund, or appropriation, or for a private individual, firm or corporation, which subsequently will be recovered.
	Reimbursements	Amounts received by an activity for the cost of material, work, or services furnished to others, for credit to an appropriation or other fund account.
	Reliability	Reliability is the ability of a system or component to perform its required functions under stated conditions for a specified period of time.
RAM	Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability	Requirement imposed on acquisition systems to ensure they are operationally ready for use when needed, will successfully perform assigned functions, and can be economically operated and maintained within the scope of logistics concepts and policies. RAM programs are applicable to materiel systems; test measurement and diagnostic equipment, training devices; and facilities developed, produced, maintained, procured, or modified for use. See individual definitions for Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability.
RBL	Reliability Based Logistics	Emphasizes the importance of designing reliability into systems and is an expansion of the process used to determine the support concept for a system, subsystem, and/or component. RBL addresses decisions such as consumable versus repairable, commercial versus organic repair, warranties, technology insertion, and Form-Fit-Function Interface (F3I) specifications as methods for facilitating reliable designs.
RCM	Reliability-Centered Maintenance	A logical, structured process used to determine the optimal failure management strategies for any system based upon system reliability characteristics and the intended operating context. RCM defines what must be done for a system to achieve the desired levels of safety, operational readiness, and environmental soundness at best cost. RCM is a continuous process that requires sustainment throughout the life cycle of a system, utilizes data from the results achieved, and feeds this data back to improve design and future maintenance.
RFI	Request for Information	An RFI is a standard business process whose purpose is to collect written information about the capabilities of various suppliers.
RFP	Request for Proposal	A solicitation used in negotiated acquisition to communicate government requirements to prospective contractor and to solicit proposals.
RFQ	Request for Quotation	A RFQ is a method of soliciting offers from suppliers for customer’s requirements for suppliers or services that fit within the dollar amount for supplies or services.
	Requirement	1.) The need or demand for personnel, equipment, facilities, other resources, or services, by specified quantities for specific periods of time or at a specified time. 2.) For use in budgeting, item requirements should be screened as to individual priority and approved in the light of total available budget resources.
	Requirements Analysis	The goal of requirements analysis is to determine the needs that make up a system to satisfy an overall need.
RDT&E	Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation	1.) Activities for the development of a new system or to expand the performance of fielded systems.2.) An appropriation.
	Resource Leveling	A process whereby resources are sorted out among tasks and activities to identify and avoid conflicts between scheduling and availability.
	Revolving Fund	A fund established to finance a cycle of operations through amounts received by the fund. Within DoD, such funds include the Defense Working Capital Fund (DWCF) as well as other working capital funds.
	Risk	Risk is a measure of future uncertainties in achieving program performance goals and objectives within defined cost, schedule and performance constraints.
	Risk Analysis	The activity that examines each identified risk to refine the description of the risk, isolate the cause, and determine the effects in setting risk mitigation priorities. It considers the likelihood of root cause occurrence; identifies possible consequences in terms of performance, schedule, and cost; and identifies the risk level in terms of high (red), medium (yellow), and low (green) on a Risk Reporting Matrix.
	Risk Identification	The activity that examines each element of the program to identify associated future root causes, begins the documentation, and sets the stage for their successful management.
	Risk Management	The overarching process that encompasses identification, analysis, mitigation planning, mitigation plan implementation, and tracking of future root causes and their consequences.
	Risk Management Planning	The activity of developing and documenting an organized, comprehensive, and interactive strategy and methods for identifying and tracking future root causes, developing risk-mitigation plans, performing continuous risk assessments to determine how risks and their root causes have changed, and assigning adequate resources.
	Risk Management Process Model	Includes the following key activities: risk identification, risk analysis, risk mitigation planning, risk mitigation plan implementation, and risk tracking.
	Risk Mitigation Plan	A document that records the results of Risk Mitigation Planning. It typically addresses topics such as descriptive title of the risks, date of the plan, points of contact for controlling identified root causes, options for mitigation, risk status, fallback approach, recommendations, approval levels, and resource requirements.
	Risk Reporting Matrix	A matrix that displays five levels of likelihood versus five levels of consequence with likelihood increasing along the vertical y-axis and consequence increasing along the horizontal x-axis from a common point of origin.
	Risk Tracking	The activity of systematically tracking and evaluating the performance of risk mitigation actions against established metrics throughout the acquisition process; also includes the development of further risk mitigation options or the execution of risk mitigation plans, as appropriate.
S
	Schedule	1.) Series of things to be done in a specific sequence within a given period of time.2.) A timetable. 3.) A listing of activities and events organized by time.
	Scheduling	1.) The act of formulating a schedule. 2.) Prescribing when and where each operation necessary to the manufacture of a product is to be performed. See Schedule.
	Science and Technology (S&T) Program	Consists of projects funded by the Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) Budget Activities (BAs) of basic research, applied research, and Advanced Technology Development (ATD).
	Second Source	Execution of established acquisition strategy to qualify two producers for the part or system. Sometimes called dual sourcing.
SCG	Security Classiication Guide	The SCG is part of the program protection plan. It details how information will be classified and marked on an acquisition program. It’s the written record of an original classification decision or series of decisions regarding a system, plan, program, or project.
SAR	Selected Acquisition Report	Standard, comprehensive, summary status report of a Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP) (Acquisition Category (ACAT) I) required for periodic submission to Congress. It includes key cost, schedule, and technical information.
SLEP	Service Life Extension Program	Modification(s) to fielded systems undertaken to extend the life of the system beyond what was previously planned.
	Serviceability	A measure of the degree to which servicing of an item will be accomplished within a given time under specified conditions.
	Should Cost Target	A Program Managers cost goals for an acquisition program.
	Simulation	A method for implementing a model. It is the process of conducting experiments with a model for the purpose of understanding the behavior of the system modeled under selected conditions or of evaluating various strategies for the operation of the system within the limits imposed by developmental or operational criteria.
SBIR	Small Business Innovation Research Program	The purpose of DoD Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs is to harness the innovative talents of our nation’s small technology companies for U.S. military and economic strength.
	Social Engineering	Social engineering is a discipline in acquisition that refers to efforts to influence popular attitudes and social behaviors on a large scale.
	Sole Proprietorship	A Sole Proprietorship is a business that is owned and managed by one owner.
	Stakeholder	A stakeholder is a person, group, or organization that has direct or indirect stake in an organization or project because it can affect or be affected its actions, objectives, and policies.
	Standardization	Standardization is the process of developing and implementing technical standards. The process establishes common agreement for engineering criteria, terms, principles, practices, materials, items, processes, and equipment parts and components.
SOO	Statement of Objectives	The Statement of Objectives (SOO) identifies the broad, basic, top-level objectives of the acquisition and is used as a focusing tool for both the Government and offerors.
SOW	Statement of Work	The Statement of Work (SOW) is a document that enables offerors to clearly understand the government’s needs for the work to be done in developing or producing the goods or services to be delivered by a contractor. It defines (either directly or by reference to other documents) all work (non-specification) performance requirements for a contractor.
	Supply Alliance	A Supply Alliance is a business relationship between a buyer and supplier. They focus on achieving continuous improvements while squeezing cost out.
	Supply and Demand	Supply and demand is an economic model of price determination in a market.
	Supply Management	Supply management is a complementary discipline that encompasses the alignment of organizations, processes, and systems for strategic sourcing, contract management, supplier management, spend analysis to continuously improve global supply for best-value performance in support of the strategic objectives of the business.
	Support Concept	The Support Concept that defines the overall logistics end state in achieving product support. The program manager establishes logistics support concepts (e.g., organic, two-level, three-level, contractor, partnering, etc.) early in the program, and refines the concepts throughout program development.
	Sustainment Metrics	In a performance based environment, sustainment related specifications, with a specified range of minimum mandatory (threshold) and target (objective) performance capability design parameters are established with accompanying metrics covering the entire enterprise.
	Systems Contracting	System Contracting involves the development of a corporate agreement with a supplier to purchase a large quantity of items or raw materials on a continuous basis.
SEP	Systems Engineering Plan	The SEP is a living document that details the execution, management, and control of the technical aspects of an acquisition program from conception to disposal.
SFR	System Functional Review	The SFR is a technical review to ensure that the system’s functional baseline is established and can satisfying the systems requirements.
SRR	System Requirements Review	A SRR is a formal review conducted to ensure that system requirements have been completely and properly identified and that a mutual understanding between the government and contractor exists
SSE	System Security Engineering	SSE integrates research and technology protection into the Systems Engineering Process. It prevents or delays exploitation of Critical Program Information (CPI) in U.S. defense systems and may include anti-tamper activities.
STA	System Threat Assessment	A System Threat Assessment is obtained from the Intelligence community during the JCIDS shortfall identification process
STAR	System Threat Assessment Report	A STAR provides an assessment of a potential adversary’s ability to neutralize or degrade a system underdevelopment.
SVR	System Verification Review	The SVR is a product and process assessment to ensure the system under review can proceed into Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) and Full-Rate Production within cost, schedule, risk, and other system constraints.
SWOT	SWOT Analysis	Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threat (SWOT) analysis provides direction and serves as a basis for the development of marketing plans.

 

 

Dictionary
For a complete list of Acquisition definitions, download the: DAU Glossary of Defense Acquisition Acronyms & Terms Handbook
T U V W X Y Z
Acronym	Title	Definition
T
	Tactical Market Research	A phase of market research conducted in response to a specific materiel need or need for services.
TISP	Tailored Information Support Plan	The TISP provides a dynamic and efficient vehicle for certain programs (Acquisition Category (ACAT II) and below) to produce requirements necessary for Interoperability and Supportability (I&S) Certification. Select program managers (PMs) may request to tailor the content of their ISP. For programs not designated Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) special interest by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration (ASD(NII)), the component will make the final decision on the details of the tailored plan subject to minimums specified in the TISP procedures from the CJCSI 6212 resource page and any special needs identified by the J-6 for the I&S certification process. (CJCSI 6212.01E)
	Tailoring	The manner in which certain core issues (program definition, program structure, program design, program assessments, and periodic reporting) are addressed in a particular program. The Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) seeks to minimize the time it takes to satisfy an identified need consistent with common sense, sound business management practice, applicable laws and regulations, and the time-sensitive nature of the requirement itself.
	Task	1.) In the context of Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS), an action or activity (derived from an analysis of the mission and concept of operations) assigned to an individual or organization to provide a capability. (JCIDS Manual) 2.) In the context of scheduling, an element of work performed during the course of a project. An activity has an expected duration, expected cost and expected resource requirements. Some systems may define tasks/activity at a level below the work package while other systems do not differentiate between the two. (Government-Industry Earned Value Management Working Group)
	Teaming	An agreement of two or more firms to form a partnership or joint venture to act as a potential prime contractor; or an agreement by a potential prime contractor to act as a subcontractor under a specified acquisition program; or an agreement for a joint proposal resulting from a normal prime contractor-subcontractor, licensee-licenser, or leader company relationship.
TD	Technical Data	Scientific or technical information recorded in any form or medium (such as manuals and drawings) necessary to operate and maintain a defense system. Documentation of computer programs and related software are TD. Computer programs and related software are not TD. Also excluded are financial data or other information related to contract administration. One of the traditional elements of logistics support (LS).
TDP	Technical Data Package	A technical description of an item adequate for supporting an acquisition strategy, production, engineering, and logistics support (LS). The description defines the required design configuration and procedures to ensure adequacy of item performance. It consists of all applicable TD such as drawings, associated lists, specifications, standards, performance requirements, quality assurance (QA) provisions, and packaging details. One of the traditional LS elements.
	Technical Evaluation	The study, investigations, or Test and Evaluation (T&E) by a developing agency to determine the technical suitability of materiel, equipment, or a system, for use in the military services. See Development Test and Evaluation (DT&E).
	Technical Information	Information including scientific, which relates to research, development, engineering, test, evaluation, production, operation, use and maintenance of munitions, and other military supplies and equipment.
TM	Technical Management	TM is a broad term including the management of a totally integrated effort of Systems Engineering (SE) (including hardware and software), Test and Evaluation (T&E), and production and logistics support (LS) over the system life cycle. Its goal is timely deployment of an effective system, sustaining it, and satisfying the need at an affordable cost. TM includes, but is not limited to system/product definition process (establishing baseline); design engineering; SE (putting pieces together); computer resources; software management; Developmental Test and Evaluation (DT&E); Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E); Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM); Product Improvements (PIs); transition from development to production; total quality management (TQM); standardization and specifications; configuration management (CM); producibility; manufacturing process and controls; system or product disposal; and Preplanned Product Improvements (P3Is). TM involves balancing a system’s cost, schedule, effectiveness, and supportability.
TMP	Technical Management Plan	A contractor’s plan for the conduct and management of the effort required to satisfy the requirements in the Request for Proposal (RFP), contract schedule, Statement of Work/Objectives (SOW/SOO), and/or specification.
TM	Technical Manual	A publication that contains instructions for the installation, operation, maintenance, training, and support of weapon systems, weapon system components, and support equipment. TM information may be presented in any form or characteristic, including but not limited to hard copy, audio and visual displays, magnetic tape, discs, and other electronic devices. A TM normally includes operational and maintenance instructions, parts lists or parts breakdown, and related technical information or procedures exclusive of administrative procedures. Technical Orders (TOs) that meet the criteria of this definition may also be classified as TM.
TPM	Technical Performance Measurement	It involves a technique of predicting the future value of a key technical performance parameter of the higher-level end product under development based on current assessments of products lower in the system structure.
	Technical Risk	The risk that arises from activities related to technology, design and engineering, manufacturing, and the critical technical processes of test, production, and logistics.
TV	Technical Standards Views	Architecture views that provide the technical systems implementation standards upon which engineering specifications are based, common building blocks are established, and product lines are developed. (CJCSI 6212.01E and DoDAF)
TD	Technology Development Phase	The purpose of the TD Phase is to reduce technology risk and to determine the appropriate set of technologies to be integrated into a full system.
TDS	Technology Development Strategy	The TDS describes the acquisition approach that will be undertaken to mature key technologies and maturation efforts to Initial Operational Capability (IOC).
	Technology Modernization	The coupling of modernization with the implementation of advanced manufacturing technology by providing incentives for contractor (and subcontractor) capitalization.
TRA	Technology Readiness Assessment	A TRA is a formal, systematic, metrics-based process and accompanying report that assesses the maturity of technologies called Critical Technology Elements (CTEs) to be used in systems.
TRL	Technology Readiness Level	TRL are a method of estimating technology maturity of Critical Technology Elements (CTE) of a program during the acquisition process.
	Technology Transition	Process of inserting critical technology into military systems to provide an effective weapons and support system in the quantity and quality needed by the warfighter to carry out assigned missions.
	Test	Any program or procedure that is designed to obtain, verify, or provide data for the evaluation of any of the following: progress in accomplishing developmental objectives; the performance, operational capability, and suitability of systems, subsystems, components, and equipment items; and the vulnerability and lethality of systems, subsystems, components, and equipment items.
T&E	Test and Evaluation	Process by which a system or components are exercised and results analyzed to provide performance-related information. The information has many uses including risk identification and risk mitigation and empirical data to validate models and simulations. T&E enables an assessment of the attainment of technical performance, specifications, and system maturity to determine whether systems are operationally effective, suitable and survivable for intended use, and/or lethal.
TEMP	Test and Evaluation Master Plan	A TEMP describes an acquisition program’s planned Test and Evaluation (T&E) activities over a program’s life cycle and identifies evaluation criteria for the testers.
TES	Test and Evaluation Strategy	An early test and evaluation planning document that describes test and evaluation activities starting with Technology Development (TD) and continuing through Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) and Production and Deployment (P&D). The TES describes how component technologies being developed will be demonstrated in a relevant environment to support the program’s transition into the EMD phase. Over time, the scope of this document will expand and evolve into the Test and Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP) due at Milestone B.
	Test Integration Working Group (TIWG)Test Planning Working Group (TPWG)	A cross-functional integrated product team (IPT) that facilitates the integration of test requirements through close coordination between materiel developer, combat developer/requirements manager, logistician, and developmental and operational testers in order to minimize development time and cost and preclude duplication between Developmental Testing (DT) and Operational Testing (OT). This team produces the Test and Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP) for the program manager (PM).
TRR	Test Readiness Review	A TRR is conducted to determine if the system under review is ready to proceed into formal testing by deciding whether the test procedures are complete and verify their compliance with test plans and descriptions.
	Test Report	Formally documents the results, conclusions, and recommendations as a result of each phase of Developmental Testing (DT)/Operational Testing (OT).
	Testbed	A system representation consisting of actual hardware and/or software and computer models or prototype hardware and/or software.
	Tester	The agency responsible for the Developmental Testing (DT) or Operational Testing (OT) of systems or components.
	Testing	An element of inspection. Generally denotes the determination by technical means of the properties or elements of supplies, or components thereof, including functional operation, and involves the application of established scientific principles and procedures.
	Threat	The sum of the potential strengths, capabilities, and strategic objectives of any adversary that can limit or negate U.S. mission accomplishment or reduce force, system, or equipment effectiveness.
	Three-Star Programmers	A DoD Functional Oversight Committee. Leads the review of the Program Objectives Memoranda (POMs) submitted by the DoD components, and screens and develops issues for presentation to the Deputy Secretary’s Advisory Working Group (DAWG). The Chair of the Three-Star Programmers is the Director, Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE).
	Threshold Value	A minimum acceptable operational value below which the utility of the system becomes questionable. (JCIDS Manual)
	Tiering	Formerly, specifications and standards referenced in a contract that, within themselves, reference other documents that reference still more documents, etc. This practice was stopped by the Secretary of Defense in a 1994 memorandum.
	Time-and-Materials Contract	A time-and-materials (FAR Subpart 16.6) contract provides for acquiring supplies or services
	Time Line	A schedule line showing key dates and planned events.
	Time Study	The procedure by which the actual elapsed time for performing an operation, or subdivisions or elements thereof, is determined by the use of a suitable timing device and recorded.
	Tolerance	A measure of the accuracy of the dimensions of a part, or the electrical characteristics of an assembly or function.
TAB	Total Allocated Budget (TAB)	The sum of all budgets allocated to the contract. TAB consists of the performance measurement baseline and all management reserve. See Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS).
TAV	Total Asset Visibility	The ability to gather information at any time about the quantity, location, and condition of assets anywhere in the DoD logistics system.
TOA	Total Obligation Authority	The sum of 1.) all budget authority (BA) granted (or requested) from the Congress in a given year, 2.) amounts authorized to be credited to a specific fund, 3.) BA transferred from another appropriation, and 4.) unobligated balances of BA from previous years which remain available for obligation. In practice, this term is used primarily in discussing the DoD budget, and most often refers to TOA as “direct program” which equates to only 1.) and 2.) above. (DoD 7000.14-R)
TOC	Total Ownership Cost	A concept designed to determine the true cost of design, development, ownership, and support of DoD weapons systems. TOC includes the elements of a program’s life cycle cost, as well as other related infrastructure or business processes costs not necessarily attributed to the program in the context of the defense acquisition system. (Defense Acquisition Guidebook) See Life Cycle Cost (LCC).
TQM	Total Quality Management	A management philosophy committed to a focus on continuous improvements of product and services with the involvement of the entire workforce.
TRACE	Total Risk Assessing Cost Estimate	A management system based on scientific methods, set procedures, and effective controls used in the development of research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) program and budget requirements to arrive at cost estimates that more closely approach the eventual actual system costs.
	Touch Labor	Defined as production labor that can be reasonably and consistently related directly to a unit of work being manufactured, processed, or tested. Hands-on labor effort.
	Trade-Off	Selection among alternatives with the intent of obtaining the optimal, achievable system configuration.Often a decision is made to opt for less of one parameter in order to achieve a more favorable overall system result.
	Trade Studies	A Trade Study is a study that identifies a preferred solution among a list of qualified solutions.
	Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Capability Manager (TCM)	An individual in TRADOC responsible for supporting the program manager (PM) by coordinating the combat developer, user, and trainer efforts in the life cycle management of the assigned system; and for doctrinal and organizational standardization or interoperability with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies. (Army)
	Training and Training Support	The processes, procedures, techniques, training devices, and equipment used to train civilian and active duty and reserve military personnel to operate and support a materiel system. This includes individual and crew training; new equipment training; initial, formal, and on-the-job training; and logistics support (LS) planning for training equipment and training device acquisitions and installations. A traditional element of LS.
	Transition to Production	The period during which the program shifts (passes) from development to production. It is not an exact point, but is a process consisting of disciplined engineering and logistics management to ensure the system is ready for manufacture.
	Transportability	The capability of materiel to be moved by towing, self-propulsion, or carrier through any means, such as railways, highways, waterways, pipelines, oceans, and airways. Full consideration of available and projected transportation assets, mobility plans and schedules, and the impact of system equipment and support items on the strategic mobility of operating military forces is required to achieve this capability.
TBIM	Trigger-Based Item Management	Management approach that relies on predetermined indicators (“triggers”) to inform management of the need to take corrective action prior to a situation deteriorating to a crisis point.
TAT	Turn-Around Time	Time required to return an item to use between missions or after removal from use.
	Two-Step Sealed Bids	A method of procurement that combines competitive procedures in order to obtain the benefits of sealed bidding when adequate specifications are not available. In step one, firms are allowed to submit technical (not price) proposals to satisfy a requirement. In step two, each firm with a satisfactory technical approach is then allowed to submit a sealed bid (price), which uses that firm’s approach as the contract specification. Award goes to the low responsive and responsible bidder. Formerly called Two-Step Formal Advertising.
	Two-Year Budget	Beginning with the President’s Budget (PB) submitted in January 1987, the DoD portion was for a 2-year period (Fiscal Year (FY) 1988/1989). The intent was for Congress to authorize and appropriate for DoD for a 2-year period, providing program stability among other positive effects. This was requested by Congress on behalf of DoD. The even years (2012, etc.), are “On-Years,” the odd ones “Off-Years.” To date, DoD has not received a 2-year appropriation. See On-Year and Off-Year.
TC	Type Classification	Process that identifies the life cycle status of a materiel system after a production decision by the assignment of a type classification designation. The process records the status of a materiel system as a guide to procurement, authorization, logistical support, asset, and readiness reporting. Satisfies DoD requirement to designate when a system is approved for Service use. (Army)
U
	Uncertainty	A condition, event, outcome, or circumstance of which the extent, value, or consequence is not predictable. State of knowledge about outcomes in a decision such that it is not possible to assign probabilities in advance. Some techniques for coping with this problem are a fortiori analysis (making use of conclusions inferred from another reasoned conclusion or recognized fact), contingency analysis, and sensitivity analysis.
UCA	Undefinitized Contract Action	Any contract action for which the terms, specifications, or price are not agreed upon before performance is begun under the action. Examples are letter contracts, orders under basic ordering agreements, and provisioned item orders for which the price has not been agreed upon before performance has begun. Letter contracts await negotiation to definitize prices. (DFARS 217.7401(d))
	Undelivered Orders	Any document meeting the criteria of an obligation, issued for material or services that have not yet been received by the activity that ordered them. Includes material requisitions applicable to reimbursable orders issued for material to be delivered from a stock funded inventory and purchase orders issued that cite annual appropriations.
USD AT&L	Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics	The USD(AT&L) has policy and procedural authority for the defense acquisition system, is the principal acquisition official of the department, and is the acquisition advisor to the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF).
	Undistributed Budget	Budget applicable to contract effort that has not yet been distributed to the cost accounts.
	Unexpended Balance	The amount of Budget Authority (BA) previously granted to an agency but still unspent and available for future payments.
	Unfilled Order	Any document issued for goods or services that meets the criteria of an obligation, and has not yet been received.
UII	Unique Item Identification	A system of marking items delivered to DoD with UIIs that have machine-readable data elements to distinguish an item from all other like and unlike items.
	Unit Cost Curve	A plot of the cost of each unit of a given quantity. The total cost for the given quantity is the sum of the cost of each individual unit.
UCR	Unit Cost Report	A quarterly written report that is submitted by the program manager (PM) to the service acquisition executive (SAE) on the unit costs of a Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP).
U.S.C.	United States Code	A consolidation and codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States arranged according to subject matter under 50 title headings, in alphabetical order to a large degree. Sets out the current status of the laws, as amended. Title 10 governs the Armed Forces.
	Unknown-Unknowns	Future situation impossible to plan, predict, or even know what to look for.
	Unlimited Rights	Rights to use, modify, reproduce, display, release, or disclose technical data (TD) in whole or in part, in any manner, and for any purpose whatsoever, and to have or authorize others to do so.
UPO	Unpriced Purchase Order	An Unpriced Purchase Order (UPO) is one for supplies or services for which a firm price cannot be established at the time the order is placed.
	Unsolicited Proposal	A written proposal that is submitted to an agency on the submitter’s initiative for the purpose of obtaining a contract with the government, and which is not in response to a formal or informal request.
	Unobligated Balance	The amount of Budget Authority (BA), previously granted to an agency but not yet committed, that continues to be available for commitment in the future.
	Unplanned Stimuli	Thermal, impact, or shock inputs that munitions are designed to withstand.
	Unscheduled Maintenance	Corrective maintenance required by item conditions.
	Unsolicited Proposal	A written proposal that is submitted to an agency on the submitter’s initiative for the purpose of obtaining a contract with the government, and which is not in response to a formal or informal request.
	User	An operational command or agency that receives or will receive benefit from the acquired system. Combatant commanders (CCDRs) and their Service component commands are the users. There may be more than one user for a system. Because the Service component commands are required to organize, equip, and train forces for the CCDRs, they are seen as users for systems. The Chiefs of Services and heads of other DoD components are validation and approval authorities and are not viewed as users. (JCIDS Manual) See Validation Authority.
	User Friendly	Primarily a term used in Automated Data Processing (ADP), it connotes a machine (hardware) or program (software) that is compatible with a person’s ability to operate it successfully and easily.
	User Representative	A command or agency that has been formally designated by proper authority to represent single or multiple users in the capabilities and acquisition process. The Services and the Service components of the combatant commanders (CCDRs) are normally the user representatives. There should only be one user representative for a system. (JCIDS Manual)
	Utility	The state or quality of being useful militarily or operationally. Designed for or possessing a number of useful or practical purposes rather than a single, specialized one.
V
	Validation and Verification	Validation and Verification are steps to determine if a systems or component satisfies their operational and system level requirements.
	Validation Authority	The individual within the DoD components charged with overall capability definition and validation. The Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VCJCS), in his role as Chairman of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), is the Validation Authority for all potential Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs). The Validation Authority for Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) issues for other programs is dependent upon the Joint Potential Designator (JPD) of the program. (JCIDS Manual) See Joint Potential Designator (JPD).
VE	Value Engineering	VE is a functional analysis methodology that identifies and selects the best value alternative for designs, materials, processes, systems, and program documentation.
VECP	Value Engineering Change Proposal	Submitted by the contractor for review as to its Value Engineering (VE) applicability. If accepted by the government, normally the contractor is compensated for saving the government money.
VC	Variable Cost	A cost that changes with the production quantity or the performance of services. This contrasts with fixed costs that do not change with production quantity or services performed.
	Variance	A measure of the degree of spread among a set of values; a measure of the tendency of individual values to vary from the mean value. It is computed by subtracting the mean value from each value, squaring each of these differences, summing these results, and dividing this sum by the number of values in order to obtain the arithmetic mean of these squares.
	Vendor	An individual, partnership, corporation, or other activity that sells property, goods, or services. A vendor may supply a government contractor. Vendors may be manufacturers, that is, actually produce the product or service they sell, or not. For example, a company that buys personal computers from a computer manufacturer under a contract name and then sells them to the government is a vendor (to the government) but not a manufacturer.
	Verification	Confirms that a system element meets design-to or build-to specifications. Throughout the system’s life cycle, design solutions at all levels of the physical architecture are verified through a cost-effective combination of analysis, examination, demonstration, and testing, all of which can be aided by modeling and simulation. (Defense Acquisition Guidebook)
	Vertical Integration	In the context of Earned Value Management (EVM), demonstrates the consistency of data between various levels of schedules and the consistency of data between various Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) elements and Integrated Master Plan/Integrated Master Schedule (IMP/IMS) elements within the schedules, if applicable. Since upper-tiered schedules set the parameters for lower-level schedules, it is imperative that lower-level schedules are traceable to upper-tiered milestones to ensure program schedule integrity. This ensures that all Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) are working to the same schedule information and all levels of schedules are supportive of the program schedule requirements. (Government-Industry Earned Value Management Working Group)
	Vulnerability	The characteristics of a system that cause it to suffer a definite degradation (loss or reduction of capability to perform the designated mission) as a result of having been subjected to a certain (defined) level of effects in an unnatural (man-made) hostile environment. Vulnerability is considered a subset of survivability.
W
	Waiver	1.) Specifications. A written authorization to accept a configuration item (CI) or other designated item, which, during production or after having been submitted for inspection, is found to depart from specified requirements, but nevertheless is considered suitable “as is” or after rework by an approved method. 2.) Decision to not require certain criteria to be met for certain reasons, such as national security.
	Warrant	1.) An official document issued by the Secretary of the Treasury and countersigned by the Comptroller General of the United States by which monies are authorized to be withdrawn from the Treasury. Warrants are issued after appropriations and similar congressional authority has been enacted. 2.) An official document (Standard Form 1402) designating an individual as a contracting officer (CO). The warrant will state as reference the limits of the CO’s authority.
	Warranty	A promise or affirmation given by a contractor to the government regarding the nature, usefulness, or condition of the supplies or performance of services furnished under a contract.
	Weapon System	Items that can be used directly by the Armed Forces to carry out combat missions.
	Weapon System Cost	Equal to the sum of the procurement cost for prime mission equipment and the procurement cost for support items.
WSS	Weapon System Specifications	The WSS is a list of detailed requirements that are developed by the contractor during the development of a weapons system.
	Weighted Guidelines	A government technique for developing fee and profit negotiation objectives, within percentage ranges established by regulation.
WPI	Wholesale Price Index	A composite index of wholesale prices of a representative group of commodities.
	Win-Win	A philosophy whereby all parties in a defense acquisition scenario come away gaining some or most of what they wanted (i.e., everyone “wins” something, even though it may not be 100 percent of the goal); the ideal outcome.
	Withdrawal	1.) The action taken by a participant in a joint or international acquisition program to removeits resources (personnel and funds) before the program is completed. (DoDI 5000.02) 2.) The transfer of the unobligated balance from an expired annual or multiple-year appropriation to the surplus account of the U.S. Treasury’s general fund, or, if appropriate, to the special fund or trust fund from which derived. (DoD 7000.14-R)
	Wooden Round	A munitions item designed specifically to require little or no maintenance, inspection, or testing throughout the life cycle. A wooden round has a predictable and acceptable level of reliability over its shelf life. Periodic assessment of a statistical sample is normally required to confirm shelf life, reliability, and capability predictions. At the end of its shelf life, a wooden round is demilitarized unless a modification is performed or its shelf life is extended based upon the results of stockpile reliability assessments.
	Work Aid	A device such as a pattern, template, or sketch used to enhance a worker’s ability to learn and perform a task efficiently.
WBS	Work Breakdown Structure	The WBS is a means of organizing system development activities based on system and product decompositions. It is a product-oriented family tree composed of hardware, software, services, data, and facilities, which result from systems engineering efforts during the development and production of the system and its components, and which completely defines the program.
	Work Cycle	A pattern of motions and/or processes that is repeated with negligible variation each time an operation is performed.
	Work Measurement (Labor Standards)	A method to determine how long it should take an employee to perform the work and to identify opportunities for improvement.
WP	Work Package	Natural subdivision of a control account. A work package is simply a task/activity or grouping of work and is the point at which work is planned, progress is measured, and earned value is computed. It can be translated into different terms in different companies and functions. It can be a design job, a tool design package, a build-to-package, a shop order, a part number, a purchase order, or any other definable task/activity at whatever level of control is normal for program management within the company. (Government-Industry Earned Value Management Working Group)
	Work Package Budgets	Resources that are formally assigned by the contractor to accomplish a work package expressed in dollars, hours, standards, or other definitive units.
	Work Performed	Includes completed work packages and the completed portion of work packages begun and not yet completed.
	Work Sampling Study	A statistical sampling technique employed to determine the proportion of delays or other classifications of activity present in the total work cycle.
	Workaround	A procedure developed for taking into account shortcomings or other problems in a program and devising workable solutions to get around the problems.
WCF	Working Capital Fund	Revolving funds within DoD that finance organizations that are intended to operate like commercial businesses. WCF business units finance their operations with cash from the revolving fund;the revolving fund is then replenished by payments from the business units’ customers.
WG	Working Group	WG is an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers working on new research activities that would be difficult to develop under traditional funding mechanisms.
WIPT	Working-Level Integrated Product Team	Team of representatives from all appropriate functional disciplines working together to build successful and balanced programs, identify and resolve issues, and make sound and timely decisions. WIPTs are usually chaired by the program manager (PM), or the PMs representative, and are advisory bodies to the PM. Direct coordination between the program office (PO) and all levels in the acquisition oversight and review process is expected as a means of exchanging information and building trust. Acquisition Category (ACAT) I programs normally establish, at a minimum, a Cost Performance Integrated Product Team (CPIPT) and a Test and Evaluation (T&E) WIPT.
	Workload	1.) The amount of work in terms of predetermined work units that organizations or individuals perform or are responsible for performing. 2.) A quantitative expression of human tasks, usually identified as standard hours of work or a corresponding number of units.
	Worst-Case Scenario	In planning, to examine the worst possible environment or outcome and evaluate results around which to formulate next step.
	Worth	The measure of value received for the resources expended. It is directly proportional to the cost to a foe (damage, neutralization, deception, and/or counteraction) and indirectly proportional tothe system cost.
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