Successful Communication in Full Scale Engineering Development Statements of Work

摘要

It is commonly believed by many members of the acquisition community that a Full Scale Engineering Development (FSED) Statements of Work (SOWs) often fail to successfully communicate the Government's requirements to the contractor; and that this communication failure causes some of the problems in DOD Systems Acquisition efforts. A significant body of research and study supports these beliefs and demonstrates interest in improving FSED SOW communication of requirements. This research was designed to identify the factors that contribute to successful FSED SOW communication and to determine if SOW experts agree that some factors identified contribute more to successful SOW communication than others. Information obtained in personal interviews with SOW experts resulted in a list of 25 factors that were synthesized into 7 subject categories: requirements, consistency, internal document organization, contract cross-referencing, language, contractor participation, and Government personnel team effort. There was agreement among SOW experts as to the importance of the seven subject categories of the factors. The study recommends that all seven categories be widely disseminated to the acquisition community; and that managers actively promote consideration and application of them to FSED SOW writing efforts. Research is recommended into quantification and measurement of individual factors and communication success. (Author)