%0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T Owning the Technical Baseline for Acquisition Programs in the U.S. Air Force %@ 978-0-309-44903-8 %D 2016 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/23631/owning-the-technical-baseline-for-acquisition-programs-in-the-us-air-force %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/23631/owning-the-technical-baseline-for-acquisition-programs-in-the-us-air-force %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Conflict and Security Issues %P 82 %X While there are examples of successful weapon systems acquisition programs within the U.S. Air Force (USAF), many of the programs are still incurring cost growth, schedule delays, and performance problems. The USAF now faces serious challenges in acquiring and maintaining its weapons systems as it strives to maintain its current programs; add new capabilities to counter evolving threats; and reduce its overall program expenditures. Owning the technical baseline is a critical component of the Air Force's ability to regain and maintain acquisition excellence. Owning the technical baseline allows the government acquisition team to manage and respond knowledgeably and effectively to systems development, operations, and execution, thereby avoiding technical and other programmatic barriers to mission success. Additionally, owning the technical baseline ensures that government personnel understand the user requirements, why a particular design and its various features have been selected over competing designs, and what the options are to pursue alternative paths to the final product given unanticipated cost, schedule, and performance challenges. Owning the Technical Baseline for Acquisition Programs in the U.S. Air Force discusses the strategic value to the Air Force of owning the technical baseline and the risk of not owning it and highlights key aspects of how agencies other than the Air Force own the technical baseline for their acquisition programs. This report identifies specific barriers to owning the technical baseline for the Air Force and makes recommendations to help guide the Air Force in overcoming those barriers. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T The Role of Experimentation Campaigns in the Air Force Innovation Life Cycle: Proceedings of a Workshop %@ 978-0-309-44789-8 %D 2016 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/23602/the-role-of-experimentation-campaigns-in-the-air-force-innovation-life-cycle %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/23602/the-role-of-experimentation-campaigns-in-the-air-force-innovation-life-cycle %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Conflict and Security Issues %K Engineering and Technology %P 42 %X The Workshop on the Role of Experimentation Campaigns in the Innovation Cycle was held in January 2016 to define and assess the current use of experimentation campaigns within the Air Force, evaluate barriers to their use, and make recommendations to increase their use. Participants at the workshop presented a broad range of issues, experiences, and insights related to experimentation, experimentation campaigns, and innovation. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T The Role of Experimentation Campaigns in the Air Force Innovation Life Cycle %@ 978-0-309-45112-3 %D 2016 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/23676/the-role-of-experimentation-campaigns-in-the-air-force-innovation-life-cycle %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/23676/the-role-of-experimentation-campaigns-in-the-air-force-innovation-life-cycle %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Conflict and Security Issues %P 116 %X The Air Force (USAF) has continuously sought to improve the speed with which it develops new capabilities to accomplish its various missions in air, space, and cyberspace. Historically, innovation has been a key part of USAF strategy, and operating within an adversary's OODA loop (observe, orient, decide, act) is part of Air Force DNA. This includes the ability to deploy technological innovations faster than do our adversaries. The Air Force faces adversaries with the potential to operate within the USAF's OODA loop, and some of these adversaries are already deploying innovations faster than the USAF. The Role of Experimentation Campaigns in the Air Force Innovation Life Cycle examines the current state of innovation and experimentation in the Air Force and best practices in innovation and experimentation in industry and other government agencies. This report also explores organizational changes needed to eliminate the barriers that deter innovation and experimentation and makes recommendations for the successful implementation of robust innovation and experimentation by the Air Force. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T Effects of the Deletion of Chemical Agent Washout on Operations at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant %@ 978-0-309-38948-8 %D 2016 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21884/effects-of-the-deletion-of-chemical-agent-washout-on-operations-at-the-blue-grass-chemical-agent-destruction-pilot-plant %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21884/effects-of-the-deletion-of-chemical-agent-washout-on-operations-at-the-blue-grass-chemical-agent-destruction-pilot-plant %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Conflict and Security Issues %P 52 %X The United States manufactured significant quantities of chemical weapons during the Cold War and the years prior. Because the chemical weapons are aging, storage constitutes an ongoing risk to the facility workforces and to the communities nearby. In addition, the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty stipulates that the chemical weapons be destroyed. The United States has destroyed approximately 90 percent of the chemical weapons stockpile located at seven sites. As part of the effort to destroy its remaining stockpile, the Department of Defense is building the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) on the Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD), near Richmond, Kentucky. The stockpile stored at BGAD consists of rockets and projectiles containing the nerve agents GB and VX and the blister agent mustard. Continued storage poses a risk to the BGAD workforce and the surrounding community because these munitions are several decades old and are developing leaks. Due to public opposition to the use of incineration to destroy the BGAD stockpile, Congress mandated that non- incineration technologies be identified for use at BGCAPP. As a result, the original BGCAPP design called for munitions to be drained of agent and then for the munition bodies to be washed out using high-pressure hot water. However as part of a larger package of modifications called Engineering Change Proposal 87 (ECP-87), the munition washout step was eliminated. Effects of the Deletion of Chemical Agent Washout on Operations at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant examines the impacts of this design change on operations at BGCAPP and makes recommendations to guide future decision making. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T Continuing Innovation in Information Technology: Workshop Report %@ 978-0-309-43724-0 %D 2016 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/23393/continuing-innovation-in-information-technology-workshop-report %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/23393/continuing-innovation-in-information-technology-workshop-report %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Computers and Information Technology %P 100 %X The 2012 National Research Council report Continuing Innovation in Information Technology illustrates how fundamental research in information technology (IT), conducted at industry and universities, has led to the introduction of entirely new product categories that ultimately became billion-dollar industries. The central graphic from that report portrays and connects areas of major investment in basic research, university-based research, and industry research and development; the introduction of important commercial products resulting from this research; billion-dollar-plus industries stemming from it; and present-day IT market segments and representative U.S. firms whose creation was stimulated by the decades-long research. At a workshop hosted by the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board on March 5, 2015, leading academic and industry researchers and industrial technologists described key research and development results and their contributions and connections to new IT products and industries, and illustrated these developments as overlays to the 2012 "tire tracks" graphic. The principal goal of the workshop was to collect and make available to policy makers and members of the IT community first-person narratives that illustrate the link between government investments in academic and industry research to the ultimate creation of new IT industries. This report provides summaries of the workshop presentations organized into five broad themes - (1) fueling the innovation pipeline, (2) building a connected world, (3) advancing the hardware foundation, (4) developing smart machines, and (5) people and computers - and ends with a summary of remarks from the concluding panel discussion. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %E Schwalbe, Michelle %T Statistical Challenges in Assessing and Fostering the Reproducibility of Scientific Results: Summary of a Workshop %@ 978-0-309-39202-0 %D 2016 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21915/statistical-challenges-in-assessing-and-fostering-the-reproducibility-of-scientific-results %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21915/statistical-challenges-in-assessing-and-fostering-the-reproducibility-of-scientific-results %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Math, Chemistry, and Physics %K Surveys and Statistics %P 132 %X Questions about the reproducibility of scientific research have been raised in numerous settings and have gained visibility through several high-profile journal and popular press articles. Quantitative issues contributing to reproducibility challenges have been considered (including improper data measurement and analysis, inadequate statistical expertise, and incomplete data, among others), but there is no clear consensus on how best to approach or to minimize these problems. A lack of reproducibility of scientific results has created some distrust in scientific findings among the general public, scientists, funding agencies, and industries. While studies fail for a variety of reasons, many factors contribute to the lack of perfect reproducibility, including insufficient training in experimental design, misaligned incentives for publication and the implications for university tenure, intentional manipulation, poor data management and analysis, and inadequate instances of statistical inference. The workshop summarized in this report was designed not to address the social and experimental challenges but instead to focus on the latter issues of improper data management and analysis, inadequate statistical expertise, incomplete data, and difficulties applying sound statistic inference to the available data. Many efforts have emerged over recent years to draw attention to and improve reproducibility of scientific work. This report uniquely focuses on the statistical perspective of three issues: the extent of reproducibility, the causes of reproducibility failures, and the potential remedies for these failures. %0 Book %A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine %T Affordability of National Flood Insurance Program Premiums: Report 2 %@ 978-0-309-38077-5 %D 2016 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21848/affordability-of-national-flood-insurance-program-premiums-report-2 %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21848/affordability-of-national-flood-insurance-program-premiums-report-2 %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Earth Sciences %K Math, Chemistry, and Physics %K Surveys and Statistics %P 150 %X When Congress authorized the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in 1968, it intended for the program to encourage community initiatives in flood risk management, charge insurance premiums consistent with actuarial pricing principles, and encourage the purchase of flood insurance by owners of flood prone properties, in part, by offering affordable premiums. The NFIP has been reauthorized many times since 1968, most recently with the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (BW 2012). In this most recent reauthorization, Congress placed a particular emphasis on setting flood insurance premiums following actuarial pricing principles, which was motivated by a desire to ensure future revenues were adequate to pay claims and administrative expenses. BW 2012 was designed to move the NFIP towards risk-based premiums for all flood insurance policies. The result was to be increased premiums for some policyholders that had been paying less than NFIP risk-based premiums and to possibly increase premiums for all policyholders. Recognition of this possibility and concern for the affordability of flood insurance is reflected in sections of the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 (HFIAA 2014). These sections called on FEMA to propose a draft affordability framework for the NFIP after completing an analysis of the efforts of possible programs for offering "means-tested assistance" to policyholders for whom higher rates may not be affordable. BW 2012 and HFIAA 2014 mandated that FEMA conduct a study, in cooperation with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which would compare the costs of a program of risk-based rates and means-tested assistance to the current system of subsidized flood insurance rates and federally funded disaster relief for people without coverage. Production of two reports was agreed upon to fulfill this mandate. This second report proposes alternative approaches for a national evaluation of affordability program policy options and includes lessons for the design of a national study from a proof-of-concept pilot study.