Military Handbook- Software Support Environment Acquisition

4.1 The software support background:

Over the past decade, the number of automated systems acquired and deployed by the Department of Defense has dramatically increased. Although some commonality among systems has been achieved, the diversity of operational and support requirements has resulted in the entry of a large number of unique automated systems into the government inventory. Each automated system has its own set of life cycle software support requirements. The complexity of these systems requires the assigned software support activity to provide a full range of engineering services, including the efforts necessary to integrate the operational software with the other elements of the operational system. Most acquisition managers, when contracting for systems that include the development of software, are often unfamiliar with the special requirements for life cycle software support and have historically not included these requirements in their plans and budgets.