November 20,1998

Revision : 9

1. "Technology Refreshment" (defined below) is required for all COTS-based NAS systems, unless there is a compelling reason to decide against it. "Compelling reasons" include unacceptable adverse impact to NAS reliability or availability, or unacceptably high life-cycle operations and support costs.
2. During Investment analysis, an evaluation will be made of the impact on existing support resources as a consequence of adopting a technology refreshment strategy for the new system. Any consequential changes in existing support resources must be reflected in the Acquisition Program Baseline for the replacement system.
3. Facilities and Equipment (F&E) funds will be used for technology refreshment of NAS Equipment. These will be included in the Acquisition Program Baseline (APB), the NAS Architecture, and the CIP budget baseline.
4. If the program is segmented, technology refreshment also will be segmented in the same way. The life-cycle funds in the APB for each segment will contain funds for Technology Refreshment of the hardware and software components originally bought for that segment.
5. Technology Refreshment funds will be managed by the appropriate Integrated Product Team (IPT).

"Technology Refreshment" is defined as the periodic replacement of Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) system components; e.g., processors, displays, computer operating systems, commercially available software (CAS), within a larger NAS system to assure continued supportability of the system through an indefinite service life.

Inevitably, COTS components (especially hardware and CAS) will be a major and growing proportion of virtually every NAS system. Unlike previous custom-built NAS systems, COTS-based systems require a tailored in-service management strategy reflecting their different maintenance challenges. Technology refreshment usually is adopted as the only viable means to sustain the capability over the service life of the system. Without technology refreshment, FAA will be unable to provide satisfactory supportability to its NAS systems over a prolonged service life, and it will not be able to interconnect its NAS systems with those of other NAS users (airlines, etc.) to permit seamless interoperability.

Notwithstanding the strong case for technology refreshment, FAA must also be concerned about whether it imposes unreasonable or unacceptable problems of its own. Given a "compelling reason", a different support strategy may be adopted, such as a buy-out of all spare parts and repair parts and maintenance documentation (e.g., drawings, software source code, etc.) to enable in-house support after vendor support ends.

Adoption of technology refreshment will be relatively expensive, but it will likely eliminate the need for system replacement and its large capital investment that now occurs at the end of service life. Moreover, its costs may be at least partially offset by reductions in existing support resources that may no longer be needed in a more vendor-dependent environment. Therefore, an evaluation of the impact on support resources with specific analysis of potential prudent in-house support reductions, must be done coincident with the investment analysis for the replacement system.

Baselining of support reductions in the Acquisition Program Baseline is needed to ensure a firm agreement and action plan are developed and executed to actually reduce the support resources as the new system comes into operation.

Facilities and Equipment funds are appropriate for Technology Refreshment, inasmuch as Technology Refreshment extends service life of fielded assets by at least two years. This choice of F&E funds is compatible with both FAA funding policy (FAA Funding Criteria Order 2500.8a) and FAA accounting practices (FAA Property, Plant, and Equipment Capitalization Policy).

Segmentation of Technology Refreshment funds is appropriate, since it ensures there is a proper accounting of all life-cycle costs for each segment at the time that segment’s investment decision is approved. Moreover, it ensures there is a one-to-one correspondence between the original hardware and software components bought for each segment and the subsequent refreshment/ replacement of those same components.

IPT management of Technology Refreshment funds is needed to ensure the smooth integration throughout the In-Service Management phase of Technology Refreshment with Pre-Planned Product Improvements and Product Upgrades, for which the IPTs also will be responsible. Technology Refreshment must be planned and executed as an integral element of the IPT’s life-cycle support role.