§5514 Acquisition Accountability on the Missile Defense System

Summary

The Director of the Missile Defense Agency must create and keep a detailed acquisition baseline for every missile defense program element and for each major subprogram. The baseline must be in place before the work moves into engineering and manufacturing development (or its equivalent) and before production and deployment. The Director cannot change the baseline unless the congressional defense committees get a notice that explains why, spells out the exact changes, and gives the new effective date. Each baseline must include a full schedule (research and development and acquisition milestones, key tests including ground, flight, cyber, and system-level tests, delivery and fielding plans, quantities by year, and planned contract dates); a technical description of the capability (hardware and software), system requirements, how it meets warfighter needs (including the missile defense warfighter involvement process under USSTRATCOM Instruction 538–03 or successor and reviews by the Joint Chiefs or JROC), key knowledge points, and planned improvements; a cost estimate with life-cycle costs broken out (research and development, procurement, military construction, operations and sustainment, disposal), unit cost figures, timing for the program joint cost analysis requirements description or an explanation if it is not prepared or not applicable; and a test baseline that summarizes the integrated master test plan. Life-cycle cost estimates must also list all operations and sustainment costs the Director is responsible for, describe what military departments must cover, show dollar amounts and base year, cite the source(s) and date, and note whether the Office for Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation independently verified the source.