Precontract challenges: Two large system acquisition experiences

The acquisition of software-intensive systems demands significant work on requirements prior to establishing the contract. Two significant challenges of the precontract phase are the identification of functional requirements and the determination of an approximate budget. In this chapter, experiences gained from the implementation of a business-process-based requirements-elicitation approach to two large innovative military applications are presented. The requirements-elicitation process proposes the determination of the requirements of a software-intensive system to be acquired from the business objectives and defined processes. In addition to the details related to the requirements-elicitation process, management practices for coordinating the efforts related to the acquisition process and determination of costs are also discussed.