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OCR for page 10
CHAPTER I I I
System Acquisition
In its previous report the panel summarized its advice on the development
process as follows:
Development and implementation of the future SSA process should
be in the hands of top management within the agency. Responsi-
bility for the planning, development, and implementation of the
process cannot -be bestowed on or abdicated to a contractor.
One major task for the top management is to organize a coherent
and expert team. Other tasks include strengthening and
utilizing in-house SSA knowledge and expertise, making good use
of consultants, and contracting for support and equipment from
companies in the computer, communications, and system architect-
engineering fields. The entire program to modernize the process
needs to be closely monitored and controlled by the SSA. The
panel is sanguine about the inherent capability of computer
and communications technology to support the future process.
Yet, because of repeated examples of grossly mismanaged large-
scale systems, the panel considers it essential that able people
and good management structure be mobilized to carry out this
development with a maximum guarantee against schedule slippages,
cost overruns, and transition problems.
During the review that formed the basis for this second report, the
panel examined the SSA's developing acquisition strategy and its planning
for the management and control of the development process.
ACQUISITION STRATEGY
The SSA has determined that its acquisition of an advanced data
processing system to support the future process is within the purview of
OMB Circular A-109. Conformance to the policies enunciated in A-109,
however, is by no means a matter of merely following to the letter
definitive procedures that have been worked out over many implementations
of the policy. On the contrary, Circular A-109 is a new policy, never
before applied to an acquisition of the kind that SSA is planning. SSA's
future process is something of a test case in which experience will be
gained in the application of A-109 to large human-service systems.
10
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Accordingly, SSA should continue to pursue the objective of an acquisi-
tion strategy that is not only consistent with the OMB policy but that
will result in the most effective and responsive service delivery.
Circular A-lO9 provides that federal agencies issue a solicitation
to industry at the beginning of the exploration of alternative design
concepts, and that the solicitation outline the overall acquisition
strategy, the specific evaluation criteria for the initial contracting
phase, and the criteria for follow-on phases. If enough proposals are
deemed meritorious, evaluation of them will result in the selection of
two or more contractors to develop and define in detail their recommended
system design concepts.
The acquisition strategy that was under consideration by the SSA
during the period of the panelts review is outlined in Table 1 (page 12)
Essentially the strategy provides for the competitive selection of
several vendors to perform preliminary work in two competitive phases
at government expense. During the first phase, these vendors will be
required to develop detailed designs, and during the second, to
demonstrate a "first module." At the end of the two competitive phases
the winning vendor will be selected to implement the system. The
acquisition strategy that will actually be adopted by SSA will be
reflected in its Request for Proposal (RFP), expected to be released in
1979. This has not been reviewed by the panel.
PLANNING FOR ACQUISITION
Circular A-lO9 imposes several requirements on agencies that plan
to acquire a major system. These include
· Development of a mission needs statement
o Designation of a program manager
· Development of an acquisition strategy
· Establishment of clear lines of authority
The panel concludes that to satisfy these requirements, and to
ensure the continuity of SSA operations during the transition, the SSA
should formalize the interrelated planning that will need to be
accomplished by several components of the SSA organization, and that
this should be done through two plans or internal contracts:
A Management Plan to establish overall policy guidance
o A Project Plan to articulate the acquisition strategy and
to detail the plan of action for acquiring the new system.
Both plans could be viewed as contracts--the Management Plan as a
contract between the Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary
of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the Project Plan as a contract
between the Commissioner of Social Security and the program manager e
.
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TABLE 1 SSA' s ACQUISITION STRATEGY
PHASE ACTION
(Duration in Months)
Preparation SSA prepares REP and solicits informal reaction.
(6)
Issuance SSA formally issues an REP for a "conceptual
(6) architectural design."
Proposals Vendors submit proposals.
(6)
Selection SSA selects multiple vendors (using Criterion #1*)
with highest levels of capability for design of
future process.
Competitive Multiple vendors refine their detailed system
Design architectures and detailed designs of the first
(12) module. During last 9 months, SSA selects out
vendors not achieving requisite performance
capabilities (using Criterion #2**~.
Competitive Vendors demonstrate a prototype first module (if
Demonstration necessary). SSA selects the future process system
(6) designer (using Criterion #3***) to design and
implement the total system.
Implementation Selected vendor designs and tests prototypes of
subsequent modules, integrates efforts of other
vendors and government organizations, undertakes
development of the applications software, and bids
on hardware.
CRITERION #l: Vendors will be judged on a sound and rational
architectural design; modeling outputs that verify the architecture's
performance; experience with projects of similar size and complexity,
and the results of detailed cost and risk analyses.
** CRITERION #2: Evaluation will be based on comparison of detailed
designs to SSA modeling outputs; technical performance analysis;
satisfying performance specifications; risk analysis (machine costs,
benefits analysis, life-cycle costs, etc.), and ability to manage the
effort in terms of logistics support, control, staffing, and project
management.
***CRITERION #3: The assessment will be based on an actual demonstration
of systems capability, including hardware independence of software.
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THE MANAGEMENT PLAN
The Management Plan should establish
.
Overall objectives for service levels, cost, and time
to accomplish
Mission needs statement
Constraints on future system design
· Relationships between the present and future systems
Assignment of responsibilities to the program manager
and others in the SSA
Guidance for supporting plans
0 Management approach
· The resources plan
· The management review schedule: Management reviews
would normally be held upon completion of significant
project events and would not necessarily be tied to
procurement actions or budget cycles. Examples of such
events include critical design completion and module
demonstration.
Controlled items: These items include items requiring
approval at senior management levels before they can be
changed and items that would trigger project reviews
whenever they deviated significantly from the plan.
THE PROJECT PLAN
The panel considers the development of a comprehensive, fully
integrated Project Plan, prior to the commencement of any procurement
action, to be the essential prerequisite to successful acquisition.
During the preprocurement stage, this is a paramount responsibility and
priority of the program manager and his staff.
The Office of Advanced Systems issued the "Master Plan for The
Development of The Future SSA Process" in June 1975 3/ and the
"Recommended Design Concept for the Future SSA Process" in April 1977.2/
The SSA has engaged in extensive study, analysis, and evaluation of
various factors that enter into the planning for its future process.
The panel holds that SSA should now proceed with the development of a
formal Project Plan to set forth the programmatic, technical, and
managerial intentions of SSA. The Project Plan should include:
0 Project Plan Summary: A summary of project technical
and management approaches, objectives, cost, personnel
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requirements, procurement strategy, schedules, environ-
mental considerations, review and approval requirements,
and major issues for management consideration.
Project and Mission Objectives: An outline of specific
project and mission objectives and the relationship of
such objectives to the basic SSA program needs, missions,
and goals. This outline should reflect the mission need
statement developed under OMB Circular A-109.
Related Studies and Activities: A summary of previously
conducted studies and related activities and the implica-
tions of the results of such efforts for the proposed
project.
Summary of Technical Plan: A summary of the technical
considerations essential to the achievement of the project
objectives. (This panel's previous report outlined such
technical considerations.)
· Procurement Approach: A summary of the approach for
procuring major project elements of hardware, software,
and other support. This section should address
compliance with requirements of Circular A-109 and
Federal Procurement Regulations, Title 41, Subpart 1-4.11,
"Procurement and Contracting for Government-Wide Auto-
mated Data Processing Equipment, Software, Maintenance
Services and Supplies.''
PROJECT CONTROL
It will be helpful to think of project control as a system--the
information system that provides the primary management data for
progress assessment, performance prediction, plan variance or problem
identification, and informed decision making. Generally, it consists of
the review of budgets, schedules, technical performance, and costs.
An appropriate project control system will evolve directly from
the planning and will be essential to the evaluation of progress toward
achieving the project's principal objectives. The controls will
constitute the primary means of assessing progress and will provide a
basis for estimating the performance of the ultimate system in comparison
with the principal program objectives. The controls should be intimately
related to the acquisition strategy for the project and to the
performance requirements imposed on the development contractors. To be
useful and effective, the controls employed by the SSA should be both
compatible and relevant.
Project control data should be on a common basis and compatible for
the program management of both SSA and the contractors. One of the best
ways to assure compatibility is to organize controls on the basis of a
specified work breakdown structure. A single common baseline is essential
to provide a meaningful relationship between the various elements of
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project control data in order to avoid duplication and prevent diverse
conclusions from different bases. When the SSA imposes requirements on
the contractor for data regarding progress and schedules, it should
consider the practices of the industry and of the particular contractor
so that the same data can serve the internal management purposes of both
the agency and the contractors.
To achieve relevance, controls imposed on a contractor should be
structured to measure the salient features (technical, schedule, and
cost) of his particular concept to achieve the project objectives of
the SSA. An REP should identify the management information needs
broadly and should specify the basic criteria that the project control
system must meet. The range and depth of data required for project
management should be directly related to the respective performance
responsibilities of the SSA and the contractor. Thus, wherever
responsibility shifts to a contractor, the role of SSA would become
less a matter of direction and more of detailed monitoring, and the
project control system should provide information for assuring proper
progress and technical feasibility, rather than for providing
unilateral government direction.
The current acquisition strategy of the SSA contemplates competi-
tive development of alternative concepts followed by increasingly
detailed demonstrations of concept capability to fulfill the agency's
objectives. The purpose of the demonstration phase is twofold: a
competitive winnowing and a concommitant, progressive increase of
confidence that the surviving proposal will fulfill the mission needs.
The end result of this strategy is the selection of a demonstrated
concept that offers the greatest value to the SSA.
In any phased procurement, the purpose of the project control
system will change during the acquisition process. In the initial
concept competition, the project control system should be tailored
to provide data to enhance the SSA's understanding during the evalua-
tion and selection of the competitors' concepts. After the ultimate
selection of a single concept for development, test, and installation,
the purpose of the project control system will change to a progres-
sively more detailed assessment of that concept against the SSA's
mission objectives.
The management of change is at the heart of successful project
management. Changes in the future system are certain over its develop-
ment cycle, and their accommodation must be comprehensive, uniform, and
efficient. Effective change control is vital to assure the integrity
and usefulness of a project control system. For best results, change
management should be fully integrated with work authorization and work
breakdown structure control.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The panel offers the following recommendations:
· On the basis of the extensive study it has already per-
formed on major technical, procurement, and managerial
considerations, the SSA should proceed with the
!
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development of formal management and project plans for
the acquisition and introduction of its future process e
· For clear communication between the SSA and the
contractors and as a means of assessing status and pre-
dicting achievement, the SSA should establish suitable
project controls, the character and extent of which
should be influenced by (a) the usefulness of their
product to SSA, (b) the practices of the industry/
contractor, and (c) the relative responsibilities of
the SSA and the contractors for system development.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
acquisition strategy
