ACQUISITION, TECHNOLOGY AND LOGISTICS
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
3010 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301-3010
MEMORANDUM FOR MEMBERS OF THE ACQUISITION
WORKFORCE
SUBJECT: Employment of Open Systems Architecture Contract
Guidebook for Program Managers, Version 1.1
Reference: (a) Open Systems Architecture Contract Guidebook for
Program Managers, Version 1.1, May 2013
The Department of Defense Open Systems Architecture (OSA)
Contract Guidebook for Program Managers, Version 1.1 is to be used by the
acquisition community for incorporating OSA principles and practices into
the acquisition of systems or services. The Guidebook contains background
information on OSA and provides contract language to capture the benefits
of an open architecture and an open business model to increase
opportunities for competition and improve access to innovation.
This contract language is designed to assist acquisition professionals
in addressing the technical and business aspects of OSA in solicitations to
industry. The language represents a long-term view and incorporates many
of the principles of open systems pursuant to the Department of Defense
(DoD) Better Buying Power initiative. This document supplements the
Federal Acquisition Regulation, the Defense Federal Acquisition
Regulation Supplement, and other applicable DoD policy and guidance.
Thoughtful use of this resource is an important element of the
acquisition process. The goal is to reduce cost while balancing risk for DoD
acquisitions by ensuring OSA and needed data rights are addressed early
and given appropriate consideration in the acquisition strategy and process.
The Guidebook is accessible at the following websites:
https://acc.dau.mil/oa and https://acc.dau.mil/osaguidebook.
All acquisition professionals are directed to become familiar with the
referenced Guidebook and implement its principles and practices. This
includes enforcing OSA wherever applicable and effectively managing data
rights over the entire life cycle of the product.
Frank Kendall
