- Programming
- Planning
- Budgeting
- Execution
Links:
The __________ phase translates planning decisions, OSD programming guidance, and congressional guidance into detailed allocations of time-phased resource requirements
Answer:
Wrong Answers:
Which of the following is NOT a required characteristic of a contractor's quality management process?
Answer:
- Appraise the product and inspect in quality
Wrong Answers:
- Monitor and control product variation
- Implement a system for corrective action
- Establish a feedback mechanism
Links:
The Deputy Secretary of Defense documents his decisions about service proposals for allocating resources in this document, which later serves as the baseline for the service's Budget Estimate Submission (BES) during the budgeting phase. This document is known as the:
Answer:
- Program Decision Memorandum (PDM)
Wrong Answers:
- Program Objectives Memorandum (POM)
- Program Budget Decision (PBD)
- Future Years Defense Program (FYDP)
Links:
The Navy awards a cost plus award fee (CPAF) contract for $265 million to design and develop electronic components for a communications system within 18 months. What reports, if any, would the contractor normally need to provide to the Program Management Office regarding their cost, schedule, and technical performance?
Answer:
- The contractor would submit a Contract Performance Report (CPR) formats 1 through 5 and an Integrated Master Schedule (IMS)
Wrong Answers:
- The contractor would submit either a Contract Performance Report (CPR) formats 1 through 5 or an Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) but not both
- The contractor would submit a Contract Performance Report (CPR) format 1 only
- The contractor would submit a Contract Performance Report (CPR) formats 1 through 5 only
- The contractor would not be required to submit any earned value related reports to the Program Management Office
Links:
For each task, match it with the appropriate step in developing a Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB).
Answer:
- Step 1: Define and scope the work
- Step 2: Schedule the work
- Step 3: Budget the work
Many up front modifications to a commercial or non-developmental item would normally suggest that logistics support be provided by the _________.
Answer:
- Government
Wrong Answer:
- Contractor
The capability of a system design to support operations and readiness at an affordable cost throughout the system's life is best described as __________.
Answer:
- Supportability
Wrong Answers:
- Producibility
- Maintainability
- Reliability
Engineering expenses attributable solely to a contract are an example of _________.
Wrong Answer:
- General and administrative (G&A) costs
Potential Answers:
- Indirect labor costs
- Direct labor costs
- Soft money costs
Reclamas should avoid________ and focus on the _________.
Answer:
- Emotionalism, facts
Wrong Answers:
- Controversy, POM guidance
- User needs, CAIV objectives
- Dollar amounts, budget documents
For a contract cost to be considered "allowable," it must meet certain criteria. If the cost does not exceed what a business person would be willing to pay in a competitive environment, which one of the following criteria is met?
Answer:
- Unknown
Wrong Answers:
- Consistent with the terms of the contract
- Allocable
- Consistent with Cost Accounting Standards
- Reasonable
The measure of a system's ability to operate without additional logistics support is __________.
Answer:
- Logistics reliability
Wrong Answers:
- Operational reliability
- Operational maintainability
- Mission reliability
The _____________________ makes adjustments to the Services budget submission to OSD.
Answer:
- Program Budget Decision (PBD)
Wrong Answers:
- Program Element (PE)
- Budget Estimate Submission (BES)
- Future Years Defense Program (FYDP)
When do the OSD Comptroller analyst and OMB analyst jointly review the BES?
Answer:
- October to early December
Wrong Answers:
- Once quarterly throughout the year
- April to early December
- Each year during July-to early September
What design consideration facilitates the manufacture of an item and reduces assembly error, material waste, and labor time?
Answer:
- Producibility
Wrong Answers:
- Interoperability
- Availability
- Reliability
The __________ shows the financial condition of the firm at a point in time expressed as assets and liabilities.
Answer:
- Balance Sheet
Wrong Answers:
- Statement of Retained Earnings
- Statement of cash Flows
- Income Statement
What form of information exchange would a Contracting Officer use to reach agreement with an offeror over the terms of a contract?
Answer:
- Negotiation
Wrong Answers:
- Discussion
- Communication
- Clarification
Which of the following supportability analysis tools relies on scheduled maintenance to spot a failure before it impacts system effectiveness?
Answer:
- Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)
Wrong Answers:
- Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA)
- Repair Level Analysis (RLA)
- Test, Analyze, Fix and Test (TAFT)
One of the primary advantages of international cooperative development includes:
Answer:
- Reduced cost
Wrong Answers:
- Foreign dependency
- Increased administrative requirements
- Improved currency exchange
An operationally meaningful, time critical, and cost effective increment in capability above the threshold value for performance is the ___________.
Answer:
- Objective value
Wrong Answers:
- CAIV adjustment
- Ultimate program goal
- Key Performance Parameter (KPP)
Tracking the performance of risk-handling actions against established metrics is involved in which step of the risk management model?
Answer:
- Risk monitoring
Wrong Answers:
- Riskplanning
- Risk handling
- Risk assessment
The National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) can affect defense acquisition program managers because:
Answer:
- NEPA requires environmental impacts to be considered in the decision making process for acquisition programs
Wrong Answers:
- Deputy Secretary of DefenseViolators of the NEPA process are subject to fines and prison sentences
- NEPA requires environmental impacts to be completely eliminated before approval will be granted for an acquisition program
- NEPA requires program managers to take remedial action to restore the environment before they can initiate a new acquisition program
When financial managers adjust for cost inflation in programming and budgeting, they usually:
Answer:
- Prepare initial estimates in base-year (constant) dollars and escalate costs into then-year (current) dollars
Wrong Answers:
- Refer to Federal Reserve Board guidelines on outlay rates and income flows
- Expect investment appropriations, such as Procurement and RDTE, to have quick outlay rates
- Revise their POM submission based on the Program Budget Decision (PBD) released by the Deputy Secretary of Defense
Which of the following are "Best Practices" that may be appropriate for software intensive programs? (Select all that apply)
Possible Answers (Please comment if you have the answer, Thank You):
- Consider the risks of reusing existing software
- Use metrics to manage and monitor risk
- To speed development, only test software at completion
- Generate new code whenever possible
Small business set-asides require the expectation that at least three capable small disadvantaged businesses will submit offers.
Answer:
- False (As per Dawn: Actually, the answer is false. They only expect two (or more) offers. Thanks so much for your support Dawn.
Responsibility for awarding the contract and any modifications for government contracts rests with the _______.
Answer:
- Contracting Officer
Wrong Answers:
- Program Manager
- Head of the Contracting Agency
- Defense Contract Audit Agency
Who would certify the interoperability performance of a command and control system used by both the Army and the Navy?
Answer:
- Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC)
Wrong Answers:
- Joint Staff, J-8
- Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) and Navy Operational Test and Evaluation Activity (OPTEVFOR)
- Joint Requirement Oversight Council (JROC)
When both parties agree to definitize a contract change before the work is begun, the change is made contractually through a __________.
Answer:
- Supplemental Agreement
Wrong Answers:
- Constructive Change
- Change Order
- None of the answers are correct
Which of the following is considered to be a practice of "Lean Manufacturing"?
Answer:
- Low levels of inventory
Wrong Answers:
- Highly specialized workforce
- Centralized management control
- Mass production
A "not invented here" mentality is considered
Answer:
- A barrier to IPPD implementation
- A key tenet of Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD)
- A guiding principle of successful Integrated Product Teams (IPTs
- A "Rule of the Road" for effective IPPD implementation
Of the following types of contracts, which one gives the contractor the most incentive to control costs?
Answer:
- Firm Fixed Price
- Fixed Price Incentive
- Cost Plus Incentive Fee
- Cost Plus Fixed Fee
According to learning curve theory, when the quantity of an item produced doubles, the labor hours required to produce the item _______.
Answer:
- Decrease by a fixed percentage
- Increase at a variable rate
- Remain constant at the unit level
- Vary in proportion to the five elements of manufacturing
Software Problems: Summary
The following learning objectives are covered in this lesson:
- Apply a generic problem-solving model to an acquisition situation.
- Apply one or more selected qualitative tools (e.g., fishbone diagram) to resolve a problem.
- Identify developer practices essential for creation of high quality software.
- Identify the requirements for interoperability testing.
1. One problem-solving technique is the cause and effect diagram or "fishbone" diagram. By analyzing all the possible causes of a problem, the fishbone diagram focuses on determining the root cause of a problem, rather than on symptoms or solutions. Typically, the fishbone diagram begins with a statement of the problem in a box on the right side of the diagram--the "head" of the fish. Then categories of major causes are identified and drawn to the left--the "bones" of the fish. These major causes are broken down into all the related causal factors that might contribute to the major causes. Finally, the causal factors are examined and narrowed down to the most significant elements of the problem to determine the ultimate cause or causes.
2. The Software Program Managers Network has identified several software best practices based on interviews with software experts and industry leaders. Here is a synthesized list of some of those characteristics, which are essential for the creation of high quality software: Adopt Continuous Program Risk Management
2. The Software Program Managers Network has identified several software best practices based on interviews with software experts and industry leaders. Here is a synthesized list of some of those characteristics, which are essential for the creation of high quality software: Adopt Continuous Program Risk Management
Risk management is a continuous process beginning with the definition of the concept and ending with system retirement. Risks need to be identified and managed across the life of the program.
Estimate Cost and Schedule Empirically
Initial software estimates and schedules should be looked on as high risk due to the lack of definitive information available at the time they are defined.
Use Metrics to Manage
All programs should have in place a continuous metrics program to monitor issues and determine the likelihood of risks occurring. Metrics information should be used as one of the primary inputs for program decisions.
Track Earned Value
Earned value requires each task to have both entry and exit criteria and a step to validate that these criteria have been met prior to the award of the credit. Earned value credit is binary with zero percent being given before task completion and 100 percent when completion is validated.
Track Defects against Quality Targets
All programs need to have pre-negotiated quality targets, which is an absolute requirement to be met prior to acceptance by the customer. Programs should implement practices to find defects early in the process and as close in time to creation of the defect as possible and should manage this defect rate against the quality targets. Meeting quality targets should be a subject at every major program review.
Treat People as the Most Important Resource
A primary program focus should be staffing positions with qualified personnel and retaining this staff through the life of the project. The program should not implement practices (e.g., excessive unpaid overtime) that will force voluntary staff turnover. The effectiveness and morale of the staff should be a factor in rewarding management.
Adopt Life Cycle Configuration Management
All programs, irrespective of size, need to manage information through a preplanned configuration management (CM) process. This discipline requires as a minimum:
- Control of shared information
- Control of changes
- Version control
- Identification of the status of controlled items(e.g., memos, schedules) and
- Reviews and audits of controlled items.
Manage and Trace Requirements
Before any design is initiated, requirements for that segment of the software need to be agreed to. Requirements need to be continuously traced from the user requirement to the lowest level software component.
Use System-Based Software Design
All methods used to define system architecture and software design should be documented in the system engineering management plan and software development plan and be frequently and regularly evaluated through audits conducted by an independent program organization.
Ensure Data and Database Interoperability
All data and database implementation decisions should consider interoperability issues and, as interoperability factors change, these decisions should be revisited.
Define and Control Interfaces
Before completion of system-level requirements, a complete inventory of all external interfaces needs to be completed. Internal interfaces should be defined as part of the design process. All interfaces should be agreed upon and individually tested.
Design Twice, Code Once
Traceability needs to be maintained through the design and verified as part of the inspection process. Design can be incrementally specified when an incremental release or evolution life cycle model is used provided the CM process is adequate to support control of incremental designs.
Assess Reuse Risks and Costs
The use of reuse components, COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf), GOTS (Government Off-The-Shelf) or any other non-developmental items (NDI) should be a primary goal, but treat any use as a risk and manage it through risk management.
Inspect Requirements and Design
All products that are placed under CM and are used as a basis for subsequent development need to be subjected to a formal inspection defined in the software development plan. The program needs to fund inspections and track rework savings.
Manage Testing as a Continuous Process
All testing should follow a preplanned process, which is agreed to and funded. Every test should be described in traceable procedures and have pass-fail criteria.
Compile and Smoke Test Frequently
Smoke testing should qualify new capability or component only after successful regression test completion. All smoke tests should be based on a traceable procedure and run by an independent organization (not the engineers who produced it). Smoke test results should be visible and provided to all project personnel.
3. Interoperability problems can best be identified through the use of actual, live systems to mitigate risk. Joint interoperability is defined as the ability of systems to provide services to and accept services from other systems and to use the services exchanged to enable them to operate effectively together. The Joint Interoperability Test Command is responsible for verifying the interoperability of systems to the parameters outlined in the ICD, CDD, CPD and ISP.
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