Software Acquisition Pathway meets a requirements roadblock from the Joint Staff

Sponsors utilizing the software acquisition pathway per reference III for software only will submit a Software-ICD (SW-ICD) to the Joint Staff Gatekeeper to assess for joint equity. For software with joint equities, it will be staffed and validated by the Joint Staff utilizing an Expedited Process per the JCIDS Manual, before entry into the Software Acquisition Pathway. Otherwise, the SW-ICD will be returned to the Sponsor for validation and entry into the Software Acquisition Pathway

That’s from the new Oct. 31, 2021 JCIDS instructions (CJCSI 5123.01I). An ICD, of course, is an initial capabilities document. Luckily, there’s no SW-Capabilities Development Document (CDD). But one could imagine such a thing arising at the Minimal Viable Capability Release (MVCR).

Middle-Tier of Acquisition is exempt from JCIDS by statute (FY 2016 NDAA Sec. 804). Software is not. And though the expedited process should take 40 days, one can imagine pass-backs until the joint interests are met, potentially stretching out many months. I have not gotten my hands on the new JCIDS manual, but I’d be interested to see whether “expedited” means following the same process for traditional Information System-ICDs, just faster.

Most software will have some communications or other interoperability considerations that will make it joint. It’s not unreasonable to think the SW-ICD may, within a few years, become routine. Another approval gate that slows down experimentation and macro-level competition. The ICD is required before Milestone A approval, so before money is released to do something out of the S&T accounts.

Creating a capability for after-the-fact mission integration is a critical and practical way to meet joint interests in an incremental manner, and not presuppose outcomes. Layering on requirements too early, before core functionality of the new behaviors are validated, creates another too-big-to-fail program. As Gall’s Law states: “A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. The inverse proposition also appears to be true: A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be made to work.”