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The News and Events Page contains links to the latest information from the RIAC.
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The RIAC Journal, published quarterly, is a resource for Reliability, Maintainability, Quality, Supportability and Interoperability for scientists, engineers, and managers alike. The Journal contains news features and technical information in every area covered by the RIAC's charter. All previous RIAC and RAC Journals are available for downloading. |
START is one of the Reliability Information Analysis Center's current awareness periodicals. As the name, Selected Topics in Assurance Related Technologies, implies, each START edition provides a "jump-start" on a topic of immediate interest to individuals with an interest in the Relaibility, Maintainability, Quality, Supportability, or Interoperability. In addition to a concise description of the topic and its relevance, each edition includes contacts, bibliographic references, and other sources for further information. |
Reliability Modeling The RIAC Guide to Reliability Prediction, Assessment and Estimation
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Few engineering techniques have caused as much controversy in the last several decades as the topic of reliability prediction. One of the primary reasons for this is the stochastic nature of reliability. Whereas many engineering disciplines are governed by deterministic processes, reliability is governed by a complex interaction of stochastic processes. As a result, the metrics of interest in other engineering disciplines are generally much more quantifiable by their very nature. While there is always a stochastic element in any engineering model, the topic of reliability quantification must address its extreme stochastic nature.
The intent of this book is to provide guidance on reliability modeling techniques that can be used to quantify the reliability of a product or system. In this context, reliability modeling is the process of constructing a mathematical model that is used to estimate the reliability characteristics of an item. This book reviews possible approaches, summarizes their advantages and disadvantages, and provides guidance on selecting an appropriate methodology based on specific goals and constraints. |
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AMSAA Reliability Growth Tools and Scorecard
| The U.S. Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity (AMSAA) has recently developed a set of Reliability Growth tools and a Reliability Program Scorecard. The tools are available at no charge for US government personnel and government contractors. The reliability growth tools are the latest evolution of the AMSAA reliability growth suite and include the new PM2 reliability growth planning model. The reliability growth planning, tracking, and projection models are easy to use and help the user by performing multiple data checks. The AMSAA reliability scorecard can be applied to assess a system's reliability program. The reliability scorecard provides a quantitative risk score and identifies strengths and weaknesses across eight categories and 40 elements. If you are interested in obtaining the reliability growth models and the reliability scorecard, please click on the link below and enter the requested information. |
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| Download The AMSAA Reliability Growth Tools and Scorecard Request Form | |
U.S Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security Office of Technology Evaluation
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In June 2007, the U.S. Department of the Navy, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) asked
the Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Office of Technology Evaluation (OTE) to conduct a
defense industrial base assessment of counterfeit electronics. NAVAIR suspected that an
increasing number of counterfeit/defective electronics were infiltrating the DoD supply chain
and affecting weapon system reliability.
This study provides (1) statistics on the extent of the infiltration of counterfeits into U.S. defense and industrial supply chains, (2) an understanding of industry and government practices that contribute to the problem, and (3) identification of best practices and recommendations for handling and preventing counterfeit electronics. |
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| Download the Test and Evaluation (T&E) Initiatives | |
Test and Evaluation (T&E) Initiatives
On 24 November 2009, the new Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), Dr. J. Michael Gilmour, issued a 5-page Memorandum that outlined his expectation that each individual in DOT&E will work to provide rigorous, objective, and clear information supporting the following initiatives:
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| Download the Test and Evaluation (T&E) Initiatives | |
Department of Defense Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Cost Rationale Report Manual
| The Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff collaborated on the Reliability, Availability, Maintainability-Cost (RAM-C) Report Manual to assist combat developers, project managers, and engineers to design RAM into systems early in a program. The manual supports life cycle implementation of the Sustainment metric, for which the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) issued new guidance in May 2007. The Sustainment metric consists of an Availability Key Performance Parameter (KPP) and two supporting Key Systems Attributes (KSAs): Reliability and Ownership Cost. The CJCS guidance requires programs under development to create a balance between RAM performance in the field and the related costs of providing that performance - a distinct paradigm shift within the acquisition community that, once fully implemented, should result in improved value for major acquisition programs. |
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| Download The DoD Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Cost Rationale Report Manual | |
SELECT - A Methodology for Acquiring Reliable COTS Equipment
“A Defense Science Board (DSB) Task Force on Developmental Test and Evaluation (DT&E) was convened in the summer of 2007 to investigate the causal factors for the high percentage of
programs entering Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) in recent years which have been evaluated as both not operationally effective and not operationally suitable. As part of their Final Report (http://theriac.org/pdfs/DSB-Rpt-DTE-May2008.pdf), released in late-May 2008, the Task Force identified several key findings and made critical recommendations in a number of areas. Section E of the report (page 42), states:
“Too often COTS which do not meet the application requirements are used. This leads to higher than anticipated failure rates and poor system mission reliability. Program managers must ensure that COTS components are able to operate satisfactorily in military mission environments. Two excellent detailed guidance manuals for the use of COTS items are:
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Bookmarked Version of the Defense Acquisition Guidebook PDF Available for Download from RIAC
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The purpose of the DoD Defense Acquisition Guidebook is to provide members of the DoD Acquisition Community and its industry partners with a reference to DoD policy and discretionary best practice. The RIAC has enhanced the November 2006 PDF Version of the Guidebook, currently available from the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) website, by adding a comprehensive bookmarked outline to aid in navigation. The RIAC-enhanced version can be downloaded from here. The enhanced version retains all of the hyperlinks incorporated into the DAU PDF versions. It should be noted that, effective 8 December 2008, a new DoD Instruction 5000.02 was issued that cancels DoD Instruction 5000.2, dated 12 May 2003. The Defense Acquisition Guidebook is currently in revision to reflect the new DoDI 5000.02. For the interim, all links in the Guidebook to the cancelled DoDI 5000.2 are redirected to the PDF Version of the DoDI 5000.02. Upon its release, the revised Guidebook will include updated links to the correct sections and specific pages of the new DoDI 5000.02. When the revised Guidebook is released, RIAC will make it available for download. |
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| Download The Defense Acquisition Guidebook | |
DoD ANNOUNCES MAJOR REVISION TO ACQUISITION POLICY
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The Honorable John Young, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD(AT&L)), approved a major revision to the DoD Acquisition System (DoD Instruction 5000.02) today, which is effective immediately. This revision is the first major change to acquisition policy in over 5 years and reflects the department's determination to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its enterprise-wide acquisition business processes so it can continue to provide warfighters with the best weapons systems and support in the world. "Enclosure 2 - Procedures" includes significant revitalization of DoD efforts to institutionalize reliability growth and reliability best practices into the DoD acquisition process. |
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| Download The Operation of the Defense Acquisition System | |
DoD Reliability Improvement Working Group
Report of the Reliability Improvement Working Group, September 4, 2008
| The Reliability Improvement Working Group (RIWG) was chartered by the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation and the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition and Technology), in February 2008, to implement recommendations by the Defense Science Board (DSB) documented in their report on Developmental Test and Evaluation (T&E) of May 2008. This report summarizes what the Components achieved during this period, and what remains to be done in order to fully realize the DSB recommendations. It is therefore a record of progress in steps taken by each Component and OSD, and a guide to what additional next steps could be taken by either a Component, after recognizing what have components have done and achieved, or by OSD. |
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| Download The Report of the Reliability Improvement Working Group | |
Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Developmental Test and Evaluation - May 2008
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The Defense Science Board (DSB) Task Force was asked to assess, from a Test and Evaluation (T&E) perspective, OSD organizational roles and responsibilities; policy and practices in oversight of acquisition programs; assess changes required to establish statutory authority for OSD DT&E oversight; and assess Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) failures due to lack of Operational Suitability. The Final Report provides finding and recommendations addressing broader programmatic issues stemming from systemic changes to the acquisition process. The report also presents findings and recommendations on program structure, requirements definition, contractual performance requirements, alignment of DoD terminology with systems engineering procedures, Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) products, and Systems of Systems (SoS). The RIAC "Selection of Equipment of Leverage Commercial Technology" (SELECT) work was cited as 'excellent detailed guidance' for the use of COTS items. |
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| Download The Defense Science Board Task Fource | |
RIAC Participating in DoD Update to MIL-HDBK-217
The RIAC is an active member of the Working Group established by NSWC Crane, as the Preparing Activity (PA), to update MIL-HDBK-217. The RIAC, as an unbiased, third-party agency of the DoD, is also serving as the repository for any data that is contributed in support of this effort. In this capacity, the RIAC can provide Nondisclosure Agreements (NDAs) to protect any data that a potential contributor wishes to remain proprietary. The RIAC will ensure that all submitted data is properly sanitized, such that no proprietary information will be provided to the at-large MIL-HDBK-217 Working Group. If you have an interest in finding out more about this effort, or wish to provide data to support the update, please link to http://www.crane.navy.mil/sd18/ReliabilityFeedback.htm for more information on how you can become involved.