TIMING

Human factors requirements should be included in all appropriate SOWs and contracts during the development of concepts and alternatives, the development of prototypes and first items, low-rate initial production, and full production.

"HOW TO"

HUMAN FACTORS IN STATEMENTS OF WORK

A good SOW starts with an understanding of what the Government wants the contractor to do. The starting point for determining human factors requirements for inclusion in the SOW is a review of human factors requirements in the Requirements Document, Acquisition Program Baseline, and the Integrated Program Plan to identify human factors issues that must be resolved, and tasks and analyses that must be conducted by the contractor to ensure that human performance goals are met. Essential human factors elements that must be addressed by the requirements in the SOW include: - Limits to the skill level and characteristics of operator, maintainer, and support personnel - Maximum acceptable training burden - Minimum acceptable performance of critical tasks - Acceptable staffing limits - System safety and health hazards The contractor's response to these requirements will result in a comprehensive human factors program for the system that defines the management and technical aspects of the effort. The response should also address the scheduling of key events and their timing in relation to other system engineering activities. The contractor's human factors effort also should be coordinated with system engineering, quality assurance, integrated logistic support, and test and evaluation activities to achieve an integrated overall effort without duplication. An adequately staffed human factors effort must be an integral part of the hardware and software analysis, design, development, and test process. The contractor's human factors effort must be planned and executed to meet the objectives, characteristics and constraints set forth in the Statement of Work and in the System Specification. The contractor's program must demonstrate how it effectively integrates human factors with their design and development process. The scope and level of effort to be applied to the various human factors tasks and activities must be tailored to suit the type of system being acquired and the acquisition phase. The SOW should describe the specific task or activity required and the associated data deliverable. Human factors reviews and demonstrations should be planned and conducted to coordinate and verify that requirements are being met. The contractor should convincingly indicate how human performance data would influence system lifecycle design and support. Human factors inputs are generally made to the following sections of the SOW. - Section 1 - Scope - Section 2 - Applicable Documents - Section 3 - Requirements - Section 4 - Quality Assurance Provisions

Step 1: Provide Human Factors Inputs to SOW Section 1 - Scope

This section provides a brief statement of what the SOW does and does not cover. Background information may be given but should be limited to what is needed to acquaint the offeror with the basic acquisition requirement. In view of the fact that human performance is a key component of total system performance, it is also appropriate to include a short description on human-system interfaces.

Step 2: Provide Human Factors Inputs to SOW Section 3 - Requirements

The specific work to be performed under the contract is given in Section 3 of the SOW. The tasks must be written so that the Government and the offeror can estimate the probable cost of doing the work. The offeror will need to be able to estimate the necessary expertise, labor, and other resources from the tasks. The requirements need to be written such that there is a clear understanding of the tasks and there is no question of an obligation to perform. Only minimum performance requirements and capabilities should be cited. Desired capabilities should be clearly identified as such. General information should be separated from directions to the contractor. This is to help ensure that background information and suggested procedures are clearly distinguishable from contractor responsibilities. Human factors objectives to consider in developing requirements are: - Human engineering - Develop or improve the human-system interface; achieve required level of human performance during system operation and maintenance; and make economical demands upon human resources, skills, and training. - Staffing and personnel - Estimate and evaluate the staffing implications of alternative system concepts in terms of total numbers of personnel required, job classification, skill levels, and experience required. Additionally, conduct evaluations and trade-offs between design, operations, and training. - Training - Identify critical and "high driver" tasks and develop the training courses, devices and aids that will enhance the human performance of mental and physical human-system interfaces within the training constraints identified. Determine optimum solutions for attaining and maintaining the required proficiency of operating and support staff. - System safety and health hazards - Define and address the potential for harm or injury to operators, maintainers, and customers induced by hardware and software design. Provide methods for elimination of these deficiencies. Identify inherent, expected, and potential hazards based on the system concept and eliminate, preclude, or alleviate these hazards to a tolerable level.

Step 3: Provide Human Factors Inputs to SOW Section 4 - Quality Assurance Provisions

This section contains the analyses, inspections, demonstrations, tests, and evaluations that the contractor is required to conduct and document to show that the requirements stated in Section 3 have been met. Human factors inputs to this section should focus on human performance testing and data collection to ensure that the achieved level of human performance will meet system performance objectives and requirements. The goal is to be able to measure operator and maintainer performance of specified critical tasks in terms of time and accuracy and not merely rely on observations. Measures of performance may need to be specified. A traceability matrix should be prepared to ensure that the human factors requirements stated in Section 3 are tested for compliance, and that all human performance testing that is conducted is traced back to a requirement. The requisite skills and training levels of the user should be specified and verified. The contractor may be required to conduct interviews or administer surveys or questionnaires to operators and maintainers and relate their responses to their measured performance.

Step 4: Provide Human Factors Inputs to SOW Section 2 - Applicable Documents

Section 2 is a listing of those documents that have been referenced in other sections of the SOW. Any document that is mentioned in the SOW should be listed in Section 2. Similarly, any document that is listed in Section 2 should be mentioned in another part of the SOW.

HUMAN FACTORS IN DATA ITEM DESCRIPTIONS

A DID describes the format and content of the data that is to be provided to the Government as required by the SOW and CRDL. While not the only means of transmitting this information to the contractor, a DID is used to standardize the format and content for a given data item. This ensures consistency across contracts and between contractors. For data to be produced and delivered, the description of the work effort necessary to produce the data must be in the SOW; the description, definitions, format and content of the data product must be provided on a DID; and the DID must be listed on the CDRL to provide delivery and other instructions. A listing of human factors-related DIDs is provided in Table 5-1. Each DID listed on the CDRL is a separate contract line item. The DID should be tailored to require only those items that are pertinent to the system being acquired, and what is necessary to allow the human factors engineer sufficient information to assess the quality and suitability of the contractor's human factors effort. DIDs can only be tailored downward; items cannot be added. The Human Factors Coordinator should prepare a list of human factors-related DIDs applicable to the system being acquired and provide them for inclusion in the SOW.

HUMAN FACTORS IN CONTRACT DATA REQUIREMENTS LISTS		The purpose of the CDRL is to describe all of the items that are required to be delivered under the terms of the contract. The CDRL identifies for the offeror what reports, analyses, and other deliverable data the contractor is required to submit concerning tasks specified in the SOW. The CDRL provides information regarding the time frame for initial and subsequent submissions, the number of copies required, and the distribution. If required data are not listed on the CDRL, the contractor is not obligated to provide it to the Government. The Human Factors Coordinator should review the CDRL to ensure the proper timing of submission of the data and that the appropriate distribution is indicated. The Human Factors Coordinator should recommend approval or rejection of the delivered product.
TABLE 5-1. HUMAN FACTORS-RELATED DIDS
HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING
DI-HFAC-80740A		Human Engineering Program Plan
DI-HFAC-80741A		Human Engineering Progress Report
DI-HFAC-80742A		Human Engineering Dynamic Simulation Plan
DI-HFAC-80743A		Human Engineering Test Plan
DI-HFAC-80744A		Human Engineering Test Report
DI-HFAC-80745A		Human Engineering System Analysis Report
DI-HFAC-80746A		Human Engineering Design Approach Document Operator
DI-HFAC-80747A		Human Engineering Design Approach Document Maintainer
DI-HFAC-81399		Critical Task Analysis Report
MANPOWER
DI-ILSS-80114		Logistic Support Analysis Record (LSAR) Data
DI-ILSS-81078		Mission, Collective, Individual, and Occupational Training Task Analysis Report
PERSONNEL
DI-HFAC-80744A		Human Engineering Test Report
DI-ILSS-81078		Mission, Collective, Individual, and Occupational Training Task Analysis Report
DI-ILSS-81079		Personnel Performance Profile Tables
DI-ILSS-81153A		LSA-019, Task Analysis Summary
DI-ILSS-81173		Logistic Support Analysis Record (LSAR) Data Table Exchange/Delivery
TRAINING
DI-ILSS-80047		Training Course Standards
DI-ILSS-80143		Training Plan
DI-ILSS-81070		Training Program Development and Management Plan
DI-ILSS-81072		Media Selection Model Report
DI-ILSS-81074		Training System Implementation Plan
DI-ILSS-81075		Training Course Control Document
DI-ILSS-81078		Mission, Collective, Individual, and Occupational Training Task Analysis Report
DI-ILSS-81088		Trainer System Functional Characteristics Report
DI-ILSS-81092		Instructional Media Package
DI-ILSS-81095		Lesson Plan
DI-ILSS-81096		Training System Utilization Handbook
DI-ILSS-81099		Training Information Package
DI-H-25724B		Student Training Materials
DI-H-25774B		Training Program Work Report
SYSTEM SAFETY/HEALTH HAZARDS
DI-H-1328A		Accident Prevention Safety Program
DI-H-1329A		Accident/Incident Report
DI-S-1838		Standard Operating Procedures for Hazardous Materials
DI-HFAC-80938A		Noise Measurement Report (NMR)
DI-SAFT-80100A		System Safety Program Plan
DI-SAFT-80101A		System Safety Hazard Analysis Report
DI-SAFT-80102A		Safety Assessment Report
DI-SAFT-80103A		Engineering Change Proposal System Safety Report
DI-SAFT-80104A		Waiver or Deviation System Safety Report
DI-SAFT-80105A		System Safety Program Progress Report
DI-SAFT-80106A		Occupational Health Hazard Assessment Report
DI-SAFT-81125		Hazard Assessment Test Report
CHECKLIST QUESTIONS
Statement Of Work (SOW)	- Are the human factors requirements consistent with the nature, complexity, and degree of human involvement of the program? - Do the human factors requirements cite the appropriate specifications or standards? - Have all human factors-related tasks and analyses to be performed by the contractor been identified in the SOW?

Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL)

- Has a human factor data requirement been prepared for each human factor deliverable cited in the SOW? - Are the human factors-related organizations included on the distribution for the delivered product? - Have the human factors data requirements been coordinated with other disciplines to eliminate redundancy of data deliverables? - Is the Human Factors Coordinator responsible for participating in the approval or rejection of the delivered product?

Data Item Description (DID)

- Has the DID been tailored (down only) to include only the information that is necessary? - Are the data item requirements consistent with the nature and complexity of the program?