Software Engineering Institute (SEI)

Abstract

Software is key to meeting DoD's increasing demand for high-quality, affordable, and timely national defense systems. There is a critical need to rapidly transition state- of-the-art technology and best practices to improve the acquisition, engineering, fielding, and evolution of software-intensive DoD systems. Starting in 2009, Project 781 funds the technology development and transition activities of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University. The SEI is an R&D Laboratory Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. It was established in 1984 as an integral part of the DoD's software initiative to identify, evaluate, and transition high-leverage software engineering technologies and practices. The SEI fosters disciplined software engineering practices by DoD acquisition and life-cycle support programs and by the industrial base where the bulk of defense software is produced. The Institute works across government, industry, and academia to: (1) improve current software engineering activities from acquisition, technical, and management perspectives; (2) facilitate rapid, value-added transition of software engineering technology into practice; and (3) evaluate and calibrate emerging software engineering technologies to determine their potential for improving the evolution of software-intensive DoD systems. The SEI enables the exploitation of emerging software technology by bringing engineering discipline to software acquisition, development, and evolution. The SEI focuses on software technology areas judged to be of the highest payoff in meeting defense needs. FY 2005 focus areas were: Acquisition Practices for DoD Software- Intensive Systems (including pilot demonstrations of new technologies, dissemination of lessons learned, and provision of selected important services to the DoD acquisition community); Software Engineering Technical Practices (including survivable systems practices, software architecture technology, software component technology, performance-critical systems, and integration of software-intensive systems); and Software Engineering Management Practices [including personal and team software development processes, software engineering measurement and analysis, and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)]. P783 of this funding line includes the Software Produceability Initiative. The role of software in major Defense acquisition programs has been steadily increasing. Much of the mission functionality demanded from programs such as F/A-22, JSF, Future Combat System, and many others is embodied in large, complex software systems. Shortcomings in software development often lead to schedule slippage, cost growth, and mission compromises. These shortcomings can frequently be traced to underpowered software development technologies not up to the task of developing the scale and complexity of software needed. Despite the large role of the commercial sector in advancing software technology, there are many key aspects of complex, distributed, robust systems crucial to DoD that are not being addressed directly by commercial technology efforts, as our experience over the past decade shows. The Software Produceability Initiative will focus on developing and transitioning more powerful and effective software development science, techniques, tools, and technologies to improve our ability to design, build, test and sustain software and software intensive systems. This PE also includes support to find, evaluate, and test innovative technologies emerging from non-traditional sources. Private sector investment has created rapid advances in technology primarily in information technology and related electronic components and devices. Obtaining an early, accurate understanding of the technological advances that are emerging from small, innovative companies has been problematic for the Department of Defense (DoD) due to these types of companies either overlooking or even avoiding federal sales opportunities. Further, once such innovative technologies become commercially available they can be rapidly obtained by insurgents for terrorist actions. These funds will be used to discover emerging technologies, evaluate their potential to fit DoD needs, and where appropriate conduct critical tests of the components or software under DoD conditions. T he facilitation of early interactions and meaningful information exchanges between the innovative companies and DoD users will accelerate the application of emerging technical solutions to DoD needs, reduce development costs, and avoid potentially disastrous technological surprises from insurgent use of such new technology. In addition, it is important to understand how developments in commercial technology might impact existing DoD programs and systems. Equally important, new commercial technologies may require new DoD policies on the use of the technology or a modification to existing DoD policy.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2011
• Source ID: 0603781D8Z_3_0400_PB_2011
• Service Agency Name: Office of Secretary Of Defense

Tags

Communities of Interest

• C4I
• Cyber
• Engineered Resilient Systems
• Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Acquisition
• Best Practices
• Business Administration
• Command And Control
• Community Of Practice
• Computer Programming
• Computer Programs
• Department Of Defense
• Emerging Technology
• Engineering
• Information Systems
• Insider Threats
• Military Acquisition
• Risk
• Security
• Software Development
• Test And Evaluation

Fields of Study

• Computer science
• Engineering

Readers

• Defense Acquisition Program Management
• Defense Technology Research and Development.
• Software Engineering.

Technology Areas

• Microelectronics