Analyzing Acquisition Test & Evaluation in Engineering Projects

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the Acquisition Test & Evaluation process, emphasizing its role as a systems engineering process designed to aid decision-making and rectify system deficiencies. It highlights the process's importance in providing relevant data for assessing system performance and ensuring project viability by identifying and mitigating risks. The essay details the five main steps of the process: identifying critical issues, pre-test engineering analysis, conducting the test, post-synthesis evaluation, and balancing test results with program information. It also discusses the application of this process in a military project, PlanComoptevfor 3980 (XXX-OT-XX), illustrating the key sections of the evaluation process, including background information, mission-based test design, safety discussions, resource identification, and stakeholder management. The essay concludes by underscoring the significance of Acquisition Test & Evaluation in reducing project risks, preventing costly redesigns, and ensuring projects meet their intended goals, particularly in complex fields like engineering and defense.

Running head: ACQUISITION TEST & EVALUATION 1
Acquisition Test & Evaluation
Student’s Name
University

ACQUISITION TEST & EVALUATION 2
Acquisition Test & Evaluation
The Acquisition Test & Evaluation process is a systems engineering process with
different levels of performance that is used to assist in decision making thus correcting system
deficiencies. This is because the process is used to provide relevant data that enables the user to
assess how the system is performing. Before any project is launched, there needs to be a prior
evaluation to determine its viability and the ability to achieve the intended results. This process
ensures that high-value projects do not turn into white elephant by failing to meet their intended
objectives. Cohen, Rolph, & Steffey (1998) state that the test and evaluation process is
established on the premise that information is critical in the acquisition of any new project tool.
This system project has been highly used in engineering projects because of its ability to provide
knowledge that assists in risk management thus increases system capabilities and sustainability.
According to Han (2009), the reason why this process has been highly attributed to
engineering is its ability to allow engineers or project managers to process data through the
balancing of risks, costs, schedule, and performance to keep the program working. The role of to
reduce risks and errors that the project can incur thus increasing the viability of the project. High
complex projects are taken through the acquisition evaluation process as a way of ensuring that
value for money is realized in the project. This process is run with three strategies of providing
information regarding the risks in the project and ways of mitigating them, providing empirical
data to validate simulation models and lastly permitting assessment of the attainment of the
technical performance abilities of the project. Thus what the manager does with this program is
assessing tradeoffs in the project and correcting errors before they affect the project. The overall
role of the Acquisition Test & Evaluation process is to reduce any risks and threats that the
project possesses. According to the Defense Acquisition University (2005), correcting defects in

ACQUISITION TEST & EVALUATION 3
weapons can cost the organization or government between ten to thirty percent of the project
total cost which makes it very expensive to redesign projects due to errors. Thus the role of
Acquisition Test & Evaluation is to reduce these errors by detecting and fixing them at the initial
stages. Projects go through different stages of design where errors can be easily fixed in the
system development and demonstration phase rather than after acquisition. Which means the test
and evaluation results are used by decision makers and interested parties to weigh the existing
facts before decisions are made.
The test and evaluation process has five main steps that the project is taken through. Each
of the steps serves a given purpose and relates to other steps within the cycle. The first step is
identifying the critical issues within the project and the data requirements that are needed. The
second step is the pre-test engineering analysis which focusses in the evaluation and
development of a plan to determine the expected outcomes that the project will deliver
(Manning, 2018). The third step entails conducting the test through retrieving data and analyzing
it through processes like modeling and simulation or training. The fourth step is post-synthesis
which entails evaluating and reporting the data compiled and the fifth step entails balancing the
test and evaluation results with other preexisting program information to make appropriate
decisions on the project.
One of the projects that have been managed by the Acquisition Test & Evaluation process
is the PlanComoptevfor 3980 (XXX-OT-XX) which is a military project that was being tested at
Norfolk Virginia. This is high value project within the government that needs to be keenly
executed to meet the required needs. Since the project value is high and it means that every step
of the project must be keenly crafted to reduce risks and any challenges that can compromise the
whole project. Such high value military projects cannot have errors since any error will require

ACQUISITION TEST & EVALUATION 4
reviewing the whole project which makes it very expensive. The cover page of the Acquisition
Test & Evaluation process contains the basic information that identifies the test plan and the
system with a picture of what is being tested (Operational Test and Evaluation Force, 2008). This
section must also contain a forwarding letter or any other documentation necessary for the
project. This means that the project details above will be captured in the background and section
one of the projects. It is worth noting that before the project can commence approval from
relevant authorities are needed like in this case, the director of the department of defense has to
approve the plan thus making it a formal document according to the required guidelines.
The second section of the process provides the background information that can assist
those evaluating the project to understand the scope of the test and the results that will be used
after the test. The background information offers a common description of the project, what is
expected to be done, the prerequisites of the project and its goals. This is thus seen as a
foundation for the whole project which makes it easy for any reader of the document to
understand the project. The Mission-based test design is used to analyze the project mission
areas and other critical measures important for the project (Operational Test and Evaluation
Force, 2008). This section also allows the test and acquisition process to be applied in collecting
data which is addressed to understand simulations, limitations to test, risks and any other
deficiencies that the project presents.
Section three of the process is the safety discussion which entails analyzing risks to safe
and effective execution. The safety of the project needs to be determined plus any risks that the
project can pose be clearly identified so that measures can be put in place to mitigate them. In
this stage, thorough discussions takes place with the operational mission and the experts that are
involved in the process. Strategies for mitigating the risks in the project need to be identified so

ACQUISITION TEST & EVALUATION 5
that any system weaknesses and challenges that need to be addressed in the project (Operational
Test and Evaluation Force, 2008). In the safety discussion, if any deviations are encountered,
there is a need to ensure that they are properly documented whether minor or major deviations.
In the case of a major deviation, the whole process will be paused to allow the team to evaluate
whether a test plan change is required to address the deviations on the project.
The last section is the identification of necessary resources and administrative
responsibilities required to execute the project test. The project also contains appendix pages that
define the test procedures and data collection plans, plans for analyzing the test data and
resolving of any issues that arise (Ape, et al., 2009). The resources need to be determined and the
sources of funding clearly discussed to ensure that the project will be successful when launched.
Thus measures have to be put in place to ensure that there are adequate resources for running the
project. These resources are used to determine the efficiency of the project in delivering the
required results while using the least cost to manage the project activities. Projects are only
supposed to be implemented if they offer an opportunity cost for the relevant body that is using
them. This means that the Acquisition Test & Evaluation process needs to complement the role
that the project will play in meeting the needs of the buyer.
Release and sharing of data after the process needs to be based on the requirements of the
project and how the sharing policy allows information to be released. This is because the
information that is released to the public should fall within the legal requirements that allow
public access. The security level of the results will determine what can be shared and what
cannot be shared. The sharing needs to follow the legal requirements to ensure that they do not
compromise the project. The logistics of the release of information determine the way the data
will be released. The data released should not be based on opinions but rather factual, subjective

ACQUISITION TEST & EVALUATION 6
and based on the evaluation process (Lumpe & Vanderperren, 2007). The report must be
subjected to procedures of deficiency and anomaly to ensure that the facts stated in the report are
valid and can be used for decision making.
Lastly, when carrying out test and evaluation, stakeholder management is important in
increasing project approval and rating (Kim & Kim, 2007). In project management, stakeholder
management is regarded as a risk management strategy thus increasing the possibility of
speeding up the project by reducing potential barriers and slowdowns. Further, this ensures that
their expectations are met thus increasing the value of the project. The program manager must
involve the testing community from the start to the end. This means that the nature of testing will
depend on the type of project and the relevant stakeholders that are required in the project. This
means that the project has to carry out the test and evaluation project not to seek approval but
rather to determine the feasibility of the project and its ability to deliver the intended results.
Therefore, the Acquisition Test & Evaluation process is an important part of major
projects since it reduces risks that such projects may face. In most cases, project redesign is
costly and require configuring of the whole project again which will delay the project in
achieving the intended benefits. Thus the role of this process is to analyze the viability of any
project and determine any deviations that need to be addressed before the project can be
acquired. This leads to other reduced risks of project failure which can make the project to fail
meeting the intended results. For example, engineering and defense projects take a lot of time
and resources to designs and build which cannot allow any system or design errors in the project.
Thus this process plays a major role in meeting the needs of the organization and ensuring that
project developed meets its required goals.

ACQUISITION TEST & EVALUATION 7
References
Ape, S., Cook, W. R., Czarneck, K., Kastner, C., Loughran, N., & Nierstrasz, O. (2009). Feature-
Oriented Software Develop-ment (FOSD). Proceedings of the First International Work-
shop on Feature-Oriented Software Develop-ment (FOSD). Colorado: The Association
for Computing Machinery.
Cohen, M. L., Rolph, J. E., & Steffey, D. L. (1998). Statistics, Testing, and Defense Acquisition.
Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Defense Acquisition University. (2005). Test and evaluation management guide. (5th, Ed.) Fort
Belvoir: Defense Acquisition University Press.
Han, D. P. (2009). Tailoring to the Acquisition Test and Evaluation Process:. The. Retrieved
from https://www.mitre.org/sites/default/files/pdf/09_4878.pdf
Kim, E., & Kim, E. (2007). Atest improvement model for embedded software testing. SEA '07
Proceedings of the 11th IASTED International Conference on Software Engineering and
Applications (pp. 79-84). Anaheim: ACTA Press.
Lumpe, M., & Vanderperren, W. (2007). Software Composition. International Conference on
Software Composition. Braga.
Manning, B. (2018, December). Test and Evaluation. Retrieved from AcqNotes:
http://acqnotes.com/acqnote/careerfields/test-and-evaluation-overview
OperationalTestandEvaluationForce. (2008). COMOPTEVFOR 3980 (XXX-OT-XX comoptevfor
initial operational test and evaluation (iot&e) test plan. Norfolk: Operational Test and
Evaluation Force.