TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Human Systems

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: NAVSEA 07L1

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: It is clear that warfighter readiness is a critical component of mission effectiveness. However, the impact of investments for changes in training and how these changes impact warfighter readiness are very hard to discern, especially when evaluated and compared with changes in other elements across the complete DOTMLPF spectrum (doctrine, organizations, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel and facilities). For instance, what is the relative impact of a 10% increase in warfighter readiness via training, coupled with improvements in materiel solutions? Likewise, what is the impact of increased simulator fidelity in terms of warfighter effectiveness � Will a lower fidelity simulator be sufficient for warfighter effectiveness given other evolving factors, and if an investment is made in a higher fidelity simulator, will there be a significant outcome on mission effectiveness? The basic problem, then, is how to quantify and predict the outcome of investment decisions in terms of their impact on mission effectiveness, given numerous interacting influences on overall performance.

DESCRIPTION: What is needed is a testbed/toolset which enables the analysis of return of investment in training systems on mission effectiveness. The testbed/tool should consider, and quantify how the training systems improvements will improve warfighter readiness given investments in training time and equipment, considering how the overall costs of such investments impacts transfer of training and warfighter performance. Critically, the testbed/tool should enable calculation of training system improvements cost relative to increased mission effectiveness in light of a wide spectrum of continual changes that also impact mission effectiveness such as materiel and organizational elements, and should address lifecycle costs.

PHASE I: The outcome of Phase I should be an investigative analysis and a comprehensive report of the factors to be considered inclusion in such a testbed/modeling tool, concepts and rationale on how to quantify these factors, and an overall computer system architecture for the modeling toolset. The work should include the development of a small subset of capabilities and factors applicable to why or why not the investment in training investment support improved warfighter performance, for a particular domain, in order to demonstrate the concept. Support for transition within that domain should be identified.

PHASE II: The outcome of Phase II should be the prototype modeling testbed toolset, with application to a particular training domain, in order to demonstrate effectiveness. Within this sample domain, the work should include validation of the model and its predictions.

PHASE III: The testbed/ toolset could be applicable to a range of government and non-government applications, where quantification of training investment decisions is desirable within the context of other investment decisions. Other DoD services and other government agencies, as well as large corporations, face such decisions and could benefit from a quantitative approach.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Industries relying on investments in training System Technologies can also utilize this toolset as a method for determining the ROI of training system investments

REFERENCES:
1. Department of the Naval Sea Systems Command; Memo Serial # 05D049; Dated: 23 Feb 2007; Title: science and technology needs - Report

2. NAVAL S&T Strategic Plan from Chief of Naval Research Jan 19th 2007 - Document

KEYWORDS: Training; Trainer; Modeling and Simulation (M&S); Return on Investment; Testbed; warfighter performance

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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