The Software and Digital Technology Pilot Program: A Step in the Right Direction, but Still Not on Course

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Título:
The Software and Digital Technology Pilot Program: A Step in the Right Direction, but Still Not on Course
Autor: May, MaCayn A
Assuntos: Acquisitions & mergers ; Appropriations ; Budgets ; Commands ; Costs ; Data collection ; Defense ; Digital technology ; Electronic warfare ; Finance ; Fiscal policy ; Fiscal years ; Funding ; Hardware ; Innovations ; Lethality ; Management ; Military equipment ; Military research ; Operational problems ; Organizations ; Pilot projects ; Procurement ; Prototypes ; R&D ; Research & development ; Software ; Software development ; Upgrading
É parte de: The Army Lawyer, 2022-07 (4), p.54-57
Descrição: [...]software can be a critical enabler to increasing the lethality within warfighting formations, yet the vast majority of the processes and associated policy remains focused on the hardware of the enterprise} From smart munitions and semi-autonomous drones to digital command posts and cyber warfare tools, the past forty years have shown software to be one of the most significant aspects of military equipment and operations.2 Unfortunately, the acquisition and development of software has fallen behind due, in part, to how it is funded.3 The Software and Digital Technology Pilot Program is a crucial,4 but ultimately underwhelming, start to remedying this issue. "9 They are typically funded with procurement funds.10 A development item involves the "systematic use of the knowledge and understanding gained from research, for the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods, including the design and development of prototypes and processes,"11 and is typically funded with research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E) funds.12 For research and development organizations that do not receive O&M, RDT&E can be used for expenses.13 Software is considered an expense item when commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS)14 software is purchased with a subscription or annual fee.15 As with any expense item, O&M or RDT&E can be used regardless of the total cost.16 If COTS software is purchased as-is, or with minor modification, COTS software is treated as an investment item and is purchased with procurement.17 If software-which is subject to the same expense/investment threshold determination as hardware-has a unit cost of $350,000 or less, it is purchased with O&M (or RDT&E for DoD research organizations)18 instead of procurement.19 Any kind of software acquired through software development services, as well as COTS software that requires more than minor modification, is classified as a development item20 and must be purchased with RDT&E.21 The requirement to use RDT&E also applies to any major upgrades to software.22 Funding's Effect on Software Purchase and Development The DoD has known its software acquisition and development methods are inefficient and unproductive since the 1980s.23 In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, Congress once again attempted to solve this issue by directing the Defense Innovation Board to review DoD's software acquisition regulations.24 In May 2019, the Defense Innovation Board released its Software Acquisition and Practices (SWAP) Report.25 The report found that fiscal restrictions designed for hardware acquisition did not function well with the unique characteristics of software acquisition and development.26 Hardware development occurs in a linear fashion that matches current fiscal policy.27 The DoD uses RDT&E to research and develop technology and experimental hardware, it uses procurement to purchase investment items or the developed hardware, and it uses O&M to sustain the hardware.28 Even if a contractor needs to develop or modify its hardware to meet the military's needs, procurement can still be appropriate if the military is purchasing the end-product, not development services.29 Software is cyclical. The Software and Digital Technology Pilot Program should last several years, but the DoD does not mean for it to develop into a permanent authority.42 The DoD's goal is to use the projects as prototypes to collect data and help senior leaders develop a long-term solution to the software development funding problem.43 According to then-Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Ellen Lord, the DoD hoped the first "year or two" of the program would convince Congress to implement a dedicated software funding authorization and any other procurement reform necessary to implement the new authority.44 Software and Digital Technology Pilot Program Shortfalls The pilot program is a promising step forward in bringing DoD software development in line with modern practices but has fallen short in several critical areas. [...]the pilot program required each project to demonstrate that it was successfully moving forward to be included.47 A common cause for project failure is fiscal uncertainty.48 Giving struggling projects the flexibility to shift funding between development, purchase, and maintenance could allow projects to focus on developing initial operational capabilities and allocating remaining funds for additional capability-generating iterations.49 Third, the funding is thus far limited to DoD and service-level development projects.50 Lower-level commands are increasingly pushing for innovative solutions to tactical and operational problems.51 Delegating approval authority to lower-level commands to contract for smaller-dollar value software solutions to issues at their level, whether modified-COTS or newly developed software, would empower commands, provide senior DoD leaders with additional data to present to Congress, and identify potential DoD or service-wide software solutions that have already been partially tested in the field.52 However, these shortfalls have started to jeopardize the future of the pilot program.
Editor: Charlottesville: Judge Advocate General's School
Idioma: Inglês

The Software and Digital Technology Pilot Program: A Step in the Right Direction, but Still Not on Course

May, MaCayn A

Charlottesville: Judge Advocate General's School

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