The DoD SBIR program funds a broad variety of early-stage basic and applied research and development efforts designed to support the broader technology development goals of the Defense Acquisition System. Technology developed under the SBIR program includes products and services that range from innovative patient litter systems for transporting patients in military vehicles, to Airborne IT networking systems that leverage OSA concepts to enhance network routing and data interoperability. Naturally, any SBIR topic that seeks to leverage open system architecture does so only when such principles are appropriate for the project. Therefore, any thorough analysis of SBIR topic RFPs to examine the extent to which the DoD uses the SBIR program to advance OSA initiatives must address the inconsistency in topics. The DoD’s objective is to incorporate open systems architecture principles primarily into national security systems (NSS); as such the purpose of both the Navy and DoD contracting guidebooks is to provide recommended language of contracts and solicitations issued by the DoD and service
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components for NSS or larger “systems of systems” (DoD OSA Data Rights Team, 2011, p. 5). Therefore, a careful analysis of the 375 topics contained in the SBIR solicitation sample was conducted in order to determine which SBIR topics were directly applicable to, or could be integrated with, contracts for national security systems. The metric used for this analysis was based on the definition of NSS outlined in both documents:
The term “NSS” refers to any telecommunications or information system operated by the Government, the function, operation, or use of which (1) involves intelligence activities; (2) involves cryptologic activities related to national security; (3) involves command and control of military forces; (4) involves equipment that is an integral part of a weapon or weapon system; or (5) is critical to the direct fulfillment of military or intelligence missions, but excluding any system that is to be used for administrative and business application purposes (including payroll, finance, logistics, and personnel management applications). (DoD OSA Data Rights Team, 2011, p. 5)
This analysis resulted in 96 SBIR solicitation topics from the sample, or approximately 26% of SBIR solicitation topics, that were associated with national security systems (i.e., the SBIR topic RFP solicits small businesses for research and development of a product that is directly classified as NSS or could be integrated with existing NSS platforms). That is, 26% of SBIR topics solicit small business participation in the research and development of information systems technologies that support national security systems, which is specifically where the DoD seeks to incorporate open systems architecture principles. These SBIR topics are annotated in Appendix A using an asterisk next to the topic number. The analysis reveals that for the population of NSS-related SBIR topics, only 23% had incorporated elements of open systems architecture characteristics into the SBIR topic request-for-proposal language during the time period used in this research. Furthermore, of the SBIR topics in this sample that were associated with national security systems, the DoD awarded $101.7 million in phase I and phase II contracts, but only 17% ($17.4 million) of that funding was awarded to the 23% of OSA- associated topics identified in Appendix B. The demonstrated under-representation of open systems architecture in NSS-associated SBIR topic solicitations, as well as the disproportionately lower phase I and II award funding for OSA-related SBIR R&D projects illustrates that the DoD SBIR program does not thoroughly incorporate and embrace open systems architecture initiatives within the SBIR program, which can inhibit system interoperability and integration when attempting to insert SBIR technologies into larger DoD platforms.
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To analyze the extent to which the DoD incorporates OSA characteristics into SBIR request-for-proposal language over time, I mapped NSS-related solicitation topics to the fiscal year that they were released to determine the percent of topics that address open system architecture characteristics. This time series analysis of SBIR topic RFP language containing OSA characteristics revealed incremental improvement within the DoD SBIR program to incorporate OSA characteristics into SBIR RFPs, suggesting increased importance over time is being placed on clarifying SBIR solicitations to ensure open systems architecture principles are included in the firm’s research and development efforts ( Figure 6). Indeed, by FY2010, 32% of SBIR topic RFPs contained language that directed the use of open systems architecture characteristics when appropriate, up from 11% in FY2006. This is likely the result of a gradual adoption of OSA principles in the Defense Acquisition System as well as the dissemination of guidance that encourages OSA characteristics be included in system design and engineering. Although the MOSA initiative had been thoroughly articulated prior to the first fiscal year used in this sample, documentation that provided specific instructions for developing RFPs that incorporate OSA characteristics had not been disseminated until the Navy released the Naval
Open Architecture Contract Guidebook in 2007, which may contribute to the upward trend
illustrated in Figure 6. However, despite DoD policy and guidance supporting open systems architecture initiatives, this analysis suggests there is room for improvement—specifically, that the DoD components participating in the SBIR program should proactively incorporate OSA characteristics in SBIR topic RFPs to encourage research and development of national security systems that leverage an open systems architecture design approach.
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SBIR solicitation topics that explicitly or implicitly directed the use of OSA principles in system design were predominately drafted by the U.S. Navy. Of the SBIR topics drafted by the Navy that were related to NSS, nearly half (40%) contained OSA principles in the RFP. This result reflects the Navy’s early adoption and pioneering of open architecture as a means to develop modular, interoperable systems that adhere to open standards with published interfaces. As the pioneer of open architecture, the U.S. Navy first drafted the Naval Open Architecture
Contract Guidebook in 2007 as a guide for PMs and contracting officers to incorporate OA
principles in contracts for national security systems, before a similar document was published by the DoD OSA Data Rights Team (2011). Nonetheless, this analysis suggests that the principles of open architecture—which run congruent to the DoD’s open system architecture—have been more widely accepted within the Navy than within other components of the Department of Defense, particularly within the administration of each component’s SBIR program. Figure 7 breaks down the 22 identified SBIR topics by component to illustrate.
Figure 7. Open System Architecture Principles in SBIR Topics by Component
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Navy Army Air Force
OSD SOCOM DARPA # SBIR Topics
DoD Component
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