Acquisition Research Program (ARP) An Evaluation of the Contractual Safety of Model-Based Requirements
Abstract
This research, led by Dr. Alejandro Salado at Virginia Tech, addresses the adoption of model-based requirements to support acquisition. Requirements form the backbone of contracting in acquisition programs. Requirements define the problem boundaries within which contractors try to find acceptable solutions (design systems). At the same time, requirements are the criteria by which a customer measures the extent that their contract has been fulfilled by the supplier. Therefore, requirements are instrumental in the success of acquisition programs. In this context, the quality of a requirement set is determined by the level of contractual safety that it yields. From a technical perspective, contractual safety is driven by the accuracy, precision, and level of completeness of the requirement set. Achieving accuracy is necessary to guarantee that the requirements capture the real needs of the customer. Achieving precision is necessary to guarantee that the supplier interprets the requirements exactly as the customer intended when writing them. Achieving completeness is necessary to avoid gaps in the problem formulation. If requirements are missing, a supplier may reach contractually acceptable solutions that do not fulfill the needs of the customer. Unfortunately, textual requirements do not provide acceptable levels of contractual safety, as they remain a major source of problems in acquisition programs. This is partly caused by the inherent limitations of natural language to statically capture written statements with precision and accuracy. In addition, natural language is difficult (often impossible) to parse into consistent logical or mathematical statements, which limits the use of systematic and/or automated tools to explore completeness. Model-based requirements have been proposed as an alternative to textual requirements, with the promise of enabling higher accuracy, precision, and completeness when eliciting requirements. However, this promise has not been demonstrated yet. Therefore, research is needed to understand the contractual impacts of using model-based requirements instead of textual requirements before model-based requirements can be widely adopted to support acquisition programs. The proposed research addresses the main question of whether using model-based requirements improves the contractual safety of acquisition programs compared to using textual requirements. In particular, the proposed research has objective to assess the accuracy, precision, and completeness achieved by model-based requirements. The proposed research will employ a combination of factorial experiments and interviews with variability and comparative analyses. The hypotheses will be tested using a notional airborne solution (including unmanned aircraft, airplanes, and satellites) to a surveillance and detection problem. By fulfilling the research objectives, this research is anticipated to significantly improve the performance of acquisition programs, in particular with regards the generation of contractual requirements. Furthermore, the direct public benefit of this research is anticipated to be higher, and earlier, efficacy of commercial products and public services. Finally, while we consider an application for the Air Force as a test case, we anticipate that the methodologies and insights provided in this work can be applicable to a broad range of systems that require careful definition of requirements: other defense systems, space systems, aeronautics, automotive systems, manufacturing systems, electronic products, civil infrastructure, public health systems, or transportation. The results of this research will be disseminated through professional conferences and scientific journals.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 18, 2020
- Source ID
- HQ00342010011
Entities
People
- Alejandro Salado
Organizations
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- Virginia Tech
- Washington Headquarters Services