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	Director, Operational Test & Evaluation
	FY98 Annual Report

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION & CONTRIBUTION TO JOINT VISION 2010

The Standard Procurement System (SPS) will improve the speed and effectiveness of contract placement and contract administration functions. It will interact more effectively with other DoD activities and with industry, and improve visibility of contract deliverables while maintaining DoD readiness with reduced resources. SPS will be comprised of components at multiple levels, including mainframe processing at the MegaCenters, minicomputers at the intermediate level, and local area network-based workstations at the user level. Software will consist of selected operating systems, network operating systems, client-server software, distributed systems software, and American Management System's commercial-derivative software.

Each Service and Agency will provide the underlying infrastructure to host the SPS application software. Although SPS accommodates Electronic Commerce/Electronic Data Interchange transactions, each Service and Agency must provide SPS the access to Electronic Commerce/Electronic Data Interchange gateways. SPS supports the Joint Vision 2010 operational concept of focused logistics by enabling Defense agencies to work more effectively with the civilian sector in procurement activities.

The SPS acquisition strategy is based on procuring and enhancing American Management System's "Procurement Desktop-Defense" software. American Management System has four years and four increments to provide the full SPS functionality. SPS Increment 1 software offers basic system functionality and was fielded in FY97 to selected Defense Logistics Agency and Navy sites. SPS Increment 2 software, which builds upon the functionality provided in Increment 1, was operationally tested in FY97. Increment 2 software has been retrofitted to the Defense Logistics Agency and Navy sites that were installed with Increment 1, and has been installed at additional selected Defense Logistics Agency and Navy sites. Increments 3 and 4 will provide increased functionality, including interfaces to legacy procurement systems and electronic commerce/electronic data interchange capabilities.

In October 1997, the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) completed the SPS Increment 2 FOT&E. The test results showed that there were 35 system deficiencies associated with open priority 2 trouble reports. These deficiencies had major impacts to operations. After a series of additional OT activities, during which the SPS PMO addressed the outstanding priority 2 trouble reports to the satisfaction of DOT&E, JITC completed its evaluation. JITC concluded that Increment 2 software was capable of operationally supporting procurement offices not affected by the deficiencies noted in its Independent Evaluation Report. JITC stated that non-automated and semi-automated procurement offices currently using or scheduled to receive Increment 1 software would benefit by the increased functionality in Increment 2. DOT&E concurred with JITC's assessments. However, due to the outstanding deficiencies and functionalities not yet incorporated into the software baseline, Increment 2 would hinder the operations of procurement offices with substantial automated legacy procurement systems.

From May-June 1998, JITC conducted OAs at two Navy sites and OT at two Army sites on a portion of the Increment 3 software functionality (not including any of the external system interfaces). JITC completed its final Independent Evaluation Report in July 1998. Based on the user-validated requirements in the Operational Requirements Document, JITC found that Increment 3 software was operationally effective and suitable for only a small number of contracting offices that had no or minimal automated procurement support. Because of the significant number of system deficiencies, inaccuracies, and incomplete functionality that prevented users from accomplishing their procurement mission, JITC concluded that Increment 3 software was neither operationally effective nor operationally suitable for a procurement office fully supported by a legacy procurement system.

The Increment 3 operational assessments and OT events were adequately planned and executed to provide the necessary basis for determining Increment 3 operational effectiveness and suitability. The operational assessments and OT events were conducted in as realistic an operational environment as could be achieved within the constraint of available resources. Testing was conducted in compliance with the procedures documented in the DOT&E-approved Operational Test and Evaluation Plan.

DOT&E determined that SPS Increment 3 software was not operationally effective. While users at the four operational assessment and OT sites were able to complete most of the simplified acquisition procedures using the Increment 3 software, significant shortfalls existed for performing functions associated with large procurement contracts. DOT&E also determined that SPS Increment 3 software was not operationally suitable. Security deficiencies allowed unauthorized users to access and alter solicitation and contract documents. In addition, user and system administration training was inadequate.

To ensure that OT truly tests the ability of SPS to support the operational mission of procurement offices, robust DT and system acceptance testing are crucial. The SPS PMO must take immediate actions to correct the deficiencies identified during Increment 3 OT. Work should continue on verifying the fixes to the deficiencies and on developing follow-on OT activities for Increment 3.

Since the utility of the interfaces will only be as good as the software functionality that supports them, interface testing should be postponed until the functionality deficiencies identified to date have been tested and verified as corrected. Y2K issues should be addressed during the DT of the interfaces and the remaining functionality in Increment 3 and Increment 4 software.