10 U.S.C. § 4212: Risk management and mitigation in major defense acquisition programs and major systems

The period preceding engineering manufacturing development, or its equivalent. The period preceding initial production. The period preceding full-rate production. An identification of the major sources of risk in each of the periods listed in paragraph (1) to improve programmatic decisionmaking and appropriately minimize and manage program concurrency. Prototyping (including prototyping at the system, subsystem, or component level and competitive prototyping, where appropriate) and, if prototyping at either the system, subsystem, or component level is not used, an explanation of why it is not appropriate. Modeling and simulation, the areas that modeling and simulation will assess, and identification of the need for development of any new modeling and simulation tools in order to support the comprehensive strategy. Technology demonstrations and decision points for disciplined transition of planned technologies into programs or the selection of alternative technologies. Multiple design approaches. Alternative designs, including any designs that meet requirements but do so with reduced performance. Phasing of program activities or related technology development efforts in order to address high-risk areas as early as feasible. Manufacturability and industrial base availability. Independent risk element assessments by outside subject matter experts. Schedule and funding margins for identified risks. the production of competitive prototypes at the system or subsystem level before Milestone B approval; or if the production of competitive prototypes is not practicable, the production of single prototypes at the system or subsystem level. In this section, the term “concurrency” means, with respect to an acquisition strategy, the combination or overlap of program phases or activities.