A PROCESS TO SCORE FUTURES COMMAND R&D EFFORTS AND PROVIDE A DECISION SUPPORT TOOL TO SELECT AND EVALUATE THOSE EFFORTS

Abstract

Army Futures Command (AFC) manages technology development projects in response to identified threats. These projects support future Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) capabilities, which are diverse in duration, cost, and technical requirements. The potential outcomes range from software upgrades to revolutionary concepts in vehicle or weapons technology. AFC must evaluate each program annually to determine priority and funding levels for recommendation in the Program Objective Memorandum (POM). AFC does not currently have a methodology in place that is capable of scoring projects based on their potential future impacts. This project develops a methodology and common metrics to score diverse technology development projects, and the methodology will provide a decision tool to support AFC POM submission. Due to the complexity of the decision-making model, as well as limits in time and available information, this project develops the methodology up to the point of demonstrating its function with simulated data. Taking these factors into consideration, this project does not perform validation and testing.