Key Questions for Acquisition Success

The MITRE Corporation (MITRE) and The Aerospace Corporation (Aerospace) teamed together to develop this Checklist, drawing upon lessons learned, best practices, and a broad and deep technical expertise supporting a wide range of acquisition programs spanning many federal agencies and organizations across government and industry. For over 50 years, these organizations have supported Department of Defense (DoD) and civilian agency Acquisition Programs as Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC), providing objective analysis and risk assessment of sensitive, proprietary, and programmatic information.

In creating this Checklist, the MITRE/Aerospace Team researched a comprehensive collection of reference documents comprised of Systems Engineering (SE) and Mission Assurance best practices. The challenge was to create a concise and understandable checklist, focusing its questions on key factors that, if not properly addressed, could cause a program to fail (i.e., over budget and/or over schedule and/or with incomplete requirements implemented). The team intends to offer this Checklist and its supporting documentation to Acquisition Program Offices, along with experienced practitioners and mentors, to assist in the disciplined planning and execution of acquisition programs. This approach is aimed at concurrently providing expert knowledge, continuity, and assistance to address current acquisition challenges.