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Conference Report 107-772 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003

Conference Report Section

Legislative History

(a) AUTHORITY- The Secretary of Defense is authorized to conduct major defense acquisition programs as spiral development programs.

(b) LIMITATION ON SPIRAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS- A research and development program for a major defense acquisition program of a military department or Defense Agency may not be conducted as a spiral development program unless the Secretary of Defense approves the spiral development plan for that research and development program in accordance with subsection (c). The Secretary of Defense may delegate authority to approve the plan to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, or to the senior acquisition executive of the military department or Defense Agency concerned, but such authority may not be further delegated.

(c) SPIRAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS- A spiral development plan for a research and development program for a major defense acquisition program shall, at a minimum, include the following matters:

(1) A rationale for dividing the research and development program into separate spirals, together with a preliminary identification of the spirals to be included.

(2) A program strategy, including overall cost, schedule, and performance goals for the total research and development program.

(3) Specific cost, schedule, and performance parameters, including measurable exit criteria, for the first spiral to be conducted.

(4) A testing plan to ensure that performance goals, parameters, and exit criteria are met.

(5) An appropriate limitation on the number of prototype units that may be produced under the research and development program.

(6) Specific performance parameters, including measurable exit criteria, that must be met before the major defense acquisition program proceeds into production of units in excess of the limitation on the number of prototype units.

(d) GUIDANCE- Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall issue guidance for the implementation of spiral development programs authorized by this section. The guidance shall include appropriate processes for ensuring the independent validation of exit criteria being met, the operational assessment of fieldable prototypes, and the management of spiral development programs.

(e) REPORTING REQUIREMENT- The Secretary shall submit to Congress by September 30 of each of 2003 through 2008 a status report on each research and development program that is a spiral development program. The report shall contain information on unit costs that is similar to the information on unit costs under major defense acquisition programs that is required to be provided to Congress under chapter 144 of title 10, United States Code, except that the information on unit costs shall address projected prototype costs instead of production costs.

(f) APPLICABILITY OF EXISTING LAW- Nothing in this section shall be construed to exempt any program of the Department of Defense from the application of any provision of chapter 144 of title 10, United States Code, section 139, 181, 2366, 2399, or 2400 of such title, or any requirement under Department of Defense Directive 5000.1, Department of Defense Instruction 5000.2, or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction 3170.01B in accordance with the terms of such provision or requirement.

(g) DEFINITIONS- In this section:

(1) The term `spiral development program', with respect to a research and development program, means a program that--

(A) is conducted in discrete phases or blocks, each of which will result in the development of fieldable prototypes; and

(B) will not proceed into acquisition until specific performance parameters, including measurable exit criteria, have been met.

(2) The term `spiral' means one of the discrete phases or blocks of a spiral development program.

(3) The term `major defense acquisition program' has the meaning given such term in section 139(a)(2)(B) of title 10, United States Code.

Conference Report 107-772

The Senate amendment contained a provision (sec. 803) that would authorize the Secretary of Defense to conduct a pilot program for the spiral development of major systems. Under the Senate provision, the Secretary would be required to issue guidance on how spiral development programs would be designed to meet key acquisition system objectives and to approve a spiral development plan for each spiral development program. (See Senate Amendment and Senate Report 107-151 below) 

The House bill contained no similar provision. 

The House recedes with an amendment that would: (1) provide permanent authorization to conduct spiral development in lieu of a pilot program; (2) authorize the Secretary to delegate the approval of spiral development plans to designated officials; (3) limit the applicability of the provision to major defense acquisition programs; and (4) give the Secretary greater flexibility in developing guidance.

Senate Amendment

SEC. 803. PILOT PROGRAM FOR SPIRAL DEVELOPMENT OF MAJOR SYSTEMS.

(a) AUTHORITY- The Secretary of Defense is authorized to conduct a pilot program for the spiral development of major systems and to designate research and development programs of the military departments and Defense Agencies to participate in the pilot program.

(b) DESIGNATION OF PARTICIPATING PROGRAMS- (1) A research and development program for a major system of a military department or Defense Agency may be conducted as a spiral development program only if the Secretary of Defense approves a spiral development plan submitted by the Secretary of that military department or head of that Defense Agency, as the case may be, and designates the program as a participant in the pilot program under this section.

(2) The Secretary of Defense shall submit a copy of each spiral development plan approved under this section to the congressional defense committees.

(c) SPIRAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS- A spiral development plan for a participating program shall, at a minimum, include the following matters:

(1) A rationale for dividing the program into separate spirals, together with a preliminary identification of the spirals to be included.

(2) A program strategy, including overall cost, schedule, and performance goals for the total program.

(3) Specific cost, schedule, and performance parameters, including measurable exit criteria, for the first spiral to be conducted.

(4) A testing plan to ensure that performance goals, parameters, and exit criteria are met.

(5) An appropriate limitation on the number of prototype units that may be produced under the program.

(6) Specific performance parameters, including measurable exit criteria, that must be met before the program proceeds into production of units in excess of the limitation on the number of prototype units.

(d) GUIDANCE- Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall issue guidance for the implementation of the spiral development pilot program authorized by this section. The guidance shall, at a minimum, include the following matters:

(1) A process for the development, review, and approval of each spiral development plan submitted by the Secretary of a military department or head of a Defense Agency.

(2) A process for establishing and approving specific cost, schedule, and performance parameters, including measurable exit criteria, for spirals to be conducted after the first spiral.

(3) Appropriate planning, testing, reporting, oversight, and other requirements to ensure that the spiral development program--

(A) satisfies realistic and clearly-defined performance standards, cost objectives, and schedule parameters (including measurable exit criteria for each spiral);

(B) achieve interoperability within and among United States forces and United States coalition partners; and

(C) optimize total system performance and minimize total ownership costs by giving appropriate consideration to--

(i) logistics planning;

(ii) manpower, personnel, and training;

(iii) human, environmental, safety, occupational health, accessibility, survivability, operational continuity, and security factors;

(iv) protection of critical program information; and

(v) spectrum management.

(4) A process for independent validation of the satisfaction of exit criteria and other relevant requirements.

(5) A process for operational testing of fieldable prototypes to be conducted before or in conjunction with the fielding of the prototypes.

(e) REPORTING REQUIREMENT- The Secretary shall submit to Congress at the end of each quarter of a fiscal year a status report on each research and development program that is a participant in the pilot program. The report shall contain information on unit costs that is similar to the information on unit costs under major defense acquisition programs that is required to be provided to Congress under chapter 144 of title 10, United States Code, except that the information on unit costs shall address projected prototype costs instead of production costs.

(f) APPLICABILITY OF EXISTING LAW- Nothing in this section shall be construed to exempt any program of the Department of Defense from the application of any provision of chapter 144 of title 10, United States Code, section 139, 181, 2366, 2399, or 2400 of such title, or any requirement under Department of Defense Directive 5000.1, Department of Defense Instruction 5000.2, or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction 3170.01B in accordance with the terms of such provision or requirement.

(g) TERMINATION OF PROGRAM PARTICIPATION- The conduct of a participating program as a spiral development program under the pilot program shall terminate when the decision is made for the participating program to proceed into the production of units in excess of the number of prototype units permitted under the limitation provided in spiral development plan for the program pursuant to subsection (c)(5).

(h) TERMINATION OF PILOT PROGRAM- (1) The authority to conduct a pilot program under this section shall terminate three years after the date of the enactment of this Act.

(2) The termination of the pilot program shall not terminate the authority of the Secretary of a military department or head of a Defense Agency to continue to conduct, as a spiral development program, any research and development program that was designated to participate in the pilot program before the date on which the pilot program terminates. In the continued conduct of such a research and development program as a spiral development program on and after such date, the spiral development plan approved for the program, the guidance issued under subsection (d), and subsections (e), (f), and (g) shall continue to apply.

(i) DEFINITIONS- In this section:

(1) The term `spiral development program' means a research and development program that--

(A) is conducted in discrete phases or blocks, each of which will result in the development of fieldable prototypes; and

(B) will not proceed into acquisition until specific performance parameters, including measurable exit criteria, have been met.

(2) The term `spiral' means one of the discrete phases or blocks of a spiral development program.

(3) The term `major system' has the meaning given such term in section 2302(5) of title 10, United States Code.

(4) The term `participating program' means a research and development program that is designated to participate in the pilot program under subsection (b).

Senate Report 107-151

Pilot program for spiral development of major systems (sec. 803)

The committee recommends a provision that would authorize the Secretary of Defense to conduct a pilot program for the spiral development of major systems. In testimony before the Readiness Subcommittee, witnesses for each of the three military services indicated that they were planning to adopt spiral development approaches in which new capabilities are achieved through the phased development of fieldable prototypes. The committee understands that the Air Force alone is considering spiral development for thirteen different systems.

The committee believes that properly structured spiral development programs can play an important role in enabling the Department of Defense (DOD) to rapidly field new technologies. The General Accounting Office (GAO) has undertaken an extensive review of weapons systems acquisition issues at the request of the committee and has concluded that a `an evolutionary, or phased, approach to developing' weapons systems could lead to significantly improved outcomes.

At the same time, GAO has testified that, `Measures for success need to be defined for each stage of the development process so that decision-makers can be assured that sufficient knowledge exists about critical facets of the product before investment [of] more time and money.' The committee believes that DOD must take a disciplined approach to spiral development to ensure that both Congress and the Department have the information they need to make acquisition and budget decisions.

To ensure that the Department develops a disciplined approach to spiral development, the provision recommended by the committee would authorize the Secretary of Defense to conduct spiral development programs on a pilot basis. Under this pilot approach, the Secretary would be required to issue guidance on how spiral development programs will be designed to meet key acquisition system objectives and to approve spiral development plans laying out the program strategy and the cost, schedule and performance goals for each spiral development program.

The committee expects that all spiral development programs for major systems will be conducted in accordance with the guidance issued by the Secretary pursuant to this section. The term `major system', as defined in section 2302(5) of title 10, includes any research and development program on which the total expenditures for research, development, test, and evaluation will exceed $115.0 million or on which the eventual total expenditure for procurement of the system will exceed $540.0 million (based on fiscal year 1990 constant dollars).