AT&L knowledge sharing update: acquisition community connection to gain three new special interest areas.

Learning materials, guidance, references, lessons learned, community connection, and much more can be found online at the Acquisition Community Connection (ACC) Web site. Look for the following up-and-coming new Special Interest Areas (SIAs) at <http://acc.dau.mil>.

Science and Technology SIA 

As the critical path to performance improvement with the potential for significant cost containment, science and technology (S&T) is an important part of the DoD budget. The S&T community is more interested in the transition of its products than in the past. With overall declining resources, the acquisition community needs to take advantage of the S&T products and must influence the S&T work in order to make it more applicable to ongoing needs. For additional information, contact the S&T editor, Dr. Bill Lukens, at [e-mail].

Test and Evaluation SIA

Test and evaluation (T&E) is the process by which systems or components are compared against requirements and specifications through testing. The results are evaluated to assess progress of design, performance, supportability, etc. Developmental T&E is an engineering tool used to reduce risk throughout the defense acquisition cycle. Operational T&E is the actual or simulated employment of a system under realistic operational conditions by typical users. For additional information, contact the T&E editor, Dr. John Claxton, at [e-mail].

Software acquisition management SIA

Software acquisition management is the process of acquiring DoD software, managing its development and integration, and ensuring its supportability. The DoD needs to consider that systems are complex and cannot be developed in a single group. Requirements are complex and cannot be described in a few pages; they evolve as a result of technology, threats, and user operations concepts that are in constant flux. Users of the system are diverse and have a direct interest and impact on system requirements; end-users typically don't acquire the system, and the acquirer normally contracts with a developer in a buy-seller arrangement. For additional information, contact the software editor, Larry Baker, at [e-mail].