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	Director, Operational Test & Evaluation
FY97 Annual Report

RESERVE COMPONENT AUTOMATION SYSTEM (RCAS)

	Army ACAT IAM Program 60,000 User Workstations Total program cost (TY$) $1,854M Average unit cost (TY$) $31K Life cycle cost (TY$) $3,331M Full-rate production (IOC) 2QFY97 Prime Contractor Boeing Computer Services

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION & CONTRIBUTION TO JOINT VISION 2010

The RCAS is an automated information system that supports commanders with information needed for reserve component mobilization and day-to-day administrative operations. It is a sustaining base functionally-oriented networked system of workstations employing primarily commercial-off-the-shelf and government-off-the-shelf (GOTS) software applications. The RCAS will interface with numerous existing and future Standard Army Management Information Systems, certain National Guard standard systems and systems designated by the Office of the Chief, Army Reserve. The RCAS supports Joint Vision 2010 by supporting the readiness of the Army reserve components, increasing their responsiveness and enabling them to rapidly integrate into joint organizations. Further, RCAS provides the communications and coordination capabilities necessary to mobilize the Army reserve components.

The RCAS is scalable and compliant with open systems environment standards. The current base system employs the Microsoft Windows NT® operating system. Office automation tasks use Microsoft Office® applications. A separate application, JetForms®, is used for creating and maintaining forms. GOTS software applications and interfaces, including Unit Level Logistics System (ULLS), Standard Property Book System - Revised (SPBS-R), and Standard Installation/Division Personnel System Version 3 (SIDPERS-3), will be incorporated in several increments.

In 1979 the Secretary of the Army approved a Mission Element Need Statement for an automated data system to support the mobilization process of the reserve components. This need was addressed with the Army Continental Army Management Information System (CAMIS), begun in the early 1980s, but canceled in 1985. CAMIS was then reprogrammed in 1986 as RCAS under the provisions of OMB Circular A-109. The RCAS acquisition was placed under the control of the Chief, National Guard Bureau, with advice of the Congress and the Chief, Army Reserve. The original Mission Need Statement for the RCAS program was approved in September 1988. The RCAS was initially precluded from using any government furnished hardware or software. The development contract was awarded to Boeing Computer Services, Inc., in 1991. The RCAS Program Management Office (PMO) held a limited user test (LUT) in August and September 1992 to demonstrate the basic RCAS capabilities, but major deficiencies were found with RCAS capabilities.

After several attempts to correct system shortcomings, the program was restructured in 1995, and the restriction regarding government furnished elements was removed. A beta demonstration was conducted for the restructured RCAS program at several Army Reserve and Army National Guard sites in the fall of 1995. Subsequently, the revised RCAS solution was accepted by an Army Validation Assessment Team. The mission was revalidated in April 1996.

During 4QFY96, the Army OPTEC conducted an IOT&E for RCAS Increment 1, consisting of the Windows NT® local area network servers and the basic user PC (Pentium®) workstations, Microsoft office automation and E-mail applications. A mobilization training exercise was included as a test event. The IOT&E was conducted at 11 sites (34 units) of the Iowa Army National Guard and 6 sites (11 units) of the 99th Regional Support Command of the U.S. Army Reserve in western Pennsylvania. Based upon the IOT&E, Increment 1 of RCAS was judged to be operationally effective and operationally suitable provided that the functional users augment the system administrator staffing and the PM improves training, logistics support, and security procedures. An abbreviated assessment was later conducted and the results showed that the revised training plan and the updated procedures were adequate.

An OT&E of RCAS Increment 2 was conducted by Army OPTEC from September 26 through October 17, 1997. Five COIs and five Additional Operational Issues were evaluated during the 22-day test period. The major new elements added to the RCAS in Increment 2 are ULLS-Ground, ULLS-S4, and SPBS-R..

The OT&E was conducted at 13 sites (39 units) of the Iowa Army National Guard, employing 563 workstations (38 classified). In addition, the OT&E included 62 sites of the 99th Regional Support Command of the U.S. Army Reserve, involving 441 workstations (18 classified) located among 105 units in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia.

Increment 2 testing results showed the system to be operationally suitable and survivable, but not effective due to poor connectivity at small sites and forms processing. The PMO fixed these problems, OPTEC conducted an OA to determine the fixes were successfully made, and on December 10, 1997 Increment 2 was determined to be operationally effective and operationally suitable and approved for deployment.