Headquarters of Space Systems Command at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., Nov. 17, 2021. Source: Photo by Van Ha, Space Systems Command
program performance, schedule, and cost drivers. The acquisition of the ESS Mission Communications Planning software is divided into three phases begin- ning with the software bake-off. The Request for Prototype Proposal was released on the Space Enterprise Con- sortium Other Transaction Authority, which then led to a selection of five vendor teams with a healthy mix of traditional defense vendors, innova- tive nontraditional businesses, and small businesses. Phase 1. The government selected five teams to compete in Phase 1, a six-month competitive prototyping demonstration with each team coding to the same software scenario. Phase 1 was intended to evaluate a contrac- tor team’s software development capabilities, processes, and soft- ware documentation that showcase industry best practices. This would then allow the government to choose the team(s) that demonstrated they could code software professionally, knew what they were doing, and could hit the ground running upon contract award without a buffer for hiring/ training new software coders.
We added a contract clause that any software coder or essential team member who performed in Phase 1 would be required to participate in follow-on phases. This would ensure that contractors did not rotate in their B or C team after winning the contract with their A Team. For Phase 1, each performer was provided with an integrated digital en- vironment and test framework at DoD Impact Level 5. The government part- nered with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab to create demon- strations simulating real-world termi- nals and satellites in simple, complex, and stressed scenarios. The five contractor teams were each awarded $300,000 to produce a mission planning application using the test framework. They generated scenarios to allow the government to evaluate their software coding prac- tices, technical maturity, and mission area knowledge. Based on demon- strated performance, the government will select up to two participants to continue into Phase 2. Phase 2. Phase 2 is a 14-month prototyping demonstration. During the 14-month period, the performers
will each receive $20 million to dem- onstrate capabilities at each software release to meet the Mission Planning Applications Suite’s end-user require- ments. The government will select one of the two contractor teams based on end user recommendations to con- tinue into Phase 3 and develop the prototype through System Assembly, Integration, and Test. Phase 3. The Mission Planning Ap- plications Suite prototype at the end of Phase 3 is to deliver a completed and integrated application that has passed not only ESS System mile- stones but also is operationally ac- cepted by the system’s end users. Acquisition Done Backwards—a “MUST” for Software ESS Mission Planning software requirements flowed down from the validated Joint Requirements Over- sight Council (JROC) ESS Capability Development Document (CDD) and System Specification. If the Mission Planning Integrated Product Team followed the standard acquisition process and developed the mission planning software from those
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