Tutorials

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Tutorials	Description
	The 5 Steps of the Research Process are a list of steps in how to conduct a research project. The steps consist of Locating and Defining Issues or Problems, Designing the Research Project, Collecting Data, Interpreting Research Data, and Report Research Findings.
	Acquisition Categories (ACAT) detail the level and amount of oversight, decision authority, and applicable procedures that are required for a program to operate.  An Acquisition category is assigned to a program primarily by the expected program cost and/or level of interest.
	The Acquisition Strategy is a comprehensive plan that identifies and describes the acquisition approach that Program Management will follow to manage program risks and meet program objectives. The Acquisition Strategy guides program execution across the entire program life cycle and is updated at every major milestone and review.
	Appropriation Categories are categories of government funding that group funds into areas of interest.
	A Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) is a simplified method of filling anticipated repetitive needs for supplies or services by establishing “charge accounts” with qualified contractors.  BPAs should be established for use by an organization responsible for providing supplies for its own operations or for other offices, installations, projects, or functions.
	A Concept of Operations (CONOPS) is a document that describes a proposed system concept and how that concept would be operated in an intended environment.  The CONOPS is developed by the user community to communicate the vision for the operational system to the acquisition and developer community.
	The Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) is an ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes. It’s a six-step systematic approach to plan, sequence, and implement improvement efforts using data and elaborates on the Shewhart Cycle (Plan, Do, Study Act). The CIP provides a common language and methodology which enables understanding the improvement process.
	Cost Variance (CV) indicates how much over or under budget the project is. It is used to track expense line items, but can also be tracked at the project level, as long as there is a budget allocated to the item.
	Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership and Education, Personnel, Facilities and Policy (DOTMLPF-P) analysis is the first step in the Functional Solutions Analysis (FSA). It determines/recommends if a non-material approach or a material approach is required to fill a capability gap identified in the Functional Needs Analysis (FNA).
	A Firm-Fixed-Price (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. This contract type places upon the contractor maximum risk and full responsibility for all costs and resulting profit or loss.
	A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is a written document describing a cooperative relationship between two parties wishing to work together on a project or to meet an agreed-upon objective. An MOA serves as a legal document and describes the terms and details of the partnership agreement.
	Other Transaction Authority (OTA) is the term commonly used to refer to the authority of the Department of Defense (DoD) to carry out certain prototypes, research, and production projects. Other Transaction (OT) authorities were created to give DoD the flexibility necessary to adopt and incorporate business practices that reflect commercial industry standards and best practices into its award instruments.
	A Performance Work Statement (PWS) is a Statement of Work for performance based-acquisitions that describes the required results in clear, specific, and objective terms with measurable outcomes. When a contract is awarded, the PWS is legally binding between the contractor and the U.S. Government.
	The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a method used to examine the tasks in a schedule and determine a Critical Path Method variation (CPM). It analyzes the time required to complete each task and its associated dependencies to determine the minimum time to complete a project.
	Precedence Diagram Method (PDM) is a visual representation technique that depicts the activities involved in a project. It is a method of constructing a project schedule network diagram that uses boxes/nodes to represent activities and connects them with arrows that show the dependencies.
	The Preliminary Design Review (PDR) is a technical assessment that establishes the Allocated Baseline of a system to ensure a system is operationally effective.  A PDR is conducted before the start of detailed design work and is the first opportunity for the Government to closely observe the Contractor’s hardware and software design.
	A Program Objective Memorandum (POM) is a recommendation from the Services and Defense Agencies to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) concerning how they plan to allocate resources (funding) for a program(s) to meet the Service Program Guidance (SPG) and Defense Planning Guidance (DPG).
	A Quality Management Plan (QMP) helps guide the Program Manager (PM) and project personnel to execute quality management and quality assurance activities for a project or program. The QMP is normally developed by a contractor and reviewed by the customer. Quality is the degree to which the project fulfills requirements.
	A Request for Information (RFI) is a standard business process whose purpose is to collect written information about the capabilities of various suppliers. It is often used in market research as a solicitation sent to a broad base of potential suppliers for the purpose of conditioning suppliers’ minds, developing strategy, building a database, for an upcoming contract competition.
	A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a solicitation used in negotiated acquisition to communicate government requirements to the prospective contractors and to solicit proposals. At a minimum, solicitations shall describe the Government’s requirement, anticipated terms, and conditions that will apply to the contract.
	Requirements Development fits into Step One of the Systems Engineering Process: Requirements Analysis. There are six (6) basic requirements development steps and really don’t change depending on which model is used. All models are similar in their approach; they just depict them differently graphically.
	There are a number of requirement types that system engineers will have to develop on an acquisition program through its life cycle. These requirements range from very high-level concept-focused to very specific for a part. The main types of requirements are Functional Requirements, Performance Requirements, System Technical Requirements, and Specifications.
	A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) describes the participation of various organizations, people, and their roles in completing tasks or deliverables for a project. It’s used by the Program Manager (PM) in clarifying roles and responsibilities in a cross-functional team, projects, and processes. A Request for Proposal (RFP) might request a RAM from a contractor.
	The NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF) describes the process for identifying, implementing, assessing, and managing cybersecurity capabilities and services, expressed as security controls, and authorizing the operation of Information Systems (IS) and Platform Information Technology (PIT) systems.
	The Software Development Plan (SDP) describes a developer’s plans for conducting a software development effort. The SDP provides the acquirer insight and a tool for monitoring the processes to be followed for software development. It also details methods to be used and the approach to be followed for each activity, organization, and resource.
	The Statement of Work (SOW) is a document that enables the offeror 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.
	A Systems Engineering Management Plan (SEMP) is a document that addresses a contractor’s overall systems engineering management approach. It provides unique insight into the application of a contractor’s standards, capability models, configuration management, and toolsets to their organization.
	Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) are a method of estimating the technology maturity of Critical Technology Elements (CTE) of a program during the acquisition process. They are determined during a Technology Readiness Assessment (TRA) that examines program concepts, technology requirements, and demonstrated technology capabilities.
	A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a tool used to define a project in discrete work elements in a Hierarchical format. It displays and defines the product, or products, to be developed and/or produced. It relates the elements of work to be accomplished to each other and to the end product. In other words, the WBS is an organized method to break down a product into subproducts at lower levels of detail. It’s used for planning, cost estimating, execution and control.
Outdated Tutorials / Poor Quality
	An Overview of the Defense Acquisition System.
	An Overview of the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS)
	An Overview of DoD Instruction 5000.02 “Operations of the Defense Acquisition System”
	An Overview of Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL)
	Program Objective Memorandum (POM)
	Critical Design Review (CDR)