DESP II Program Quality Assurance

SwRI’s corporate-wide Quality Assurance organization has established plans, procedures, and processes through our Quality System Manual under ISO 9001:2000 that flow down fundamental Systems Engineering (SE) goals and elements to the task order level. System engineering management for DESP II is based on a task accomplishment plan (TAP) that addresses SE and Operational Safety, Suitability, and Effectiveness (OSS&E) elements with management and functional oversight. The TAP includes a tailored approach to each subtask such that input requirements are identified, measures of effectiveness in meeting those requirements are defined, and interfaces between stakeholders are defined. The TAP provides similar input, output, and interface definition requirements for personnel resources, reviews and audits, risk management, subcontractor management, and configuration control. The Project Technical Manager (PTM) is responsible for tailoring the task order SE and OSS&E approach, and then coordinating that approach with the Integrated Program Team (IPT) for approval. The TAP established under these procedures encompasses the technical program planning and control elements traditionally found in MIL-STD-499, as illustrated in the table below. Project teams on individual task orders apply these SE processes and expertise during project execution. Existing methods for integration of SE, assignment of resources, and tracking of requirements within the IPT provide DESP II with a low-risk solution for even the most complex task orders. Systems engineers provide the PTM with technical performance/cost/schedule risk information for decision making, while supporting the PTM to establish, manage, and verify requirements and configurations.