R&D FUNDING DECISIONS

THE "ACCURACY AND VALIDITY" OF R&D OPTIONS FOR ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT DECISION-MAKERS IS DEPENDENT ON A HOST OF DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT VARIABLES. THESE VARIABLES ARE QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE, SUCH AS BUDGET LIMITATIONS, PERSONNEL/FACILITY RE STRICTIONS, EXPECTED PERFORMANCE OR R&D COST AND SCHEDULE. VERY FEW QUANTITATIVE MODELS OF THE R&D PROJECT SELECTION PROCESS AND RESOURCE ALLOCATION DECISION PROCESS HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED AND USED BY R&D MANAGERS BECAUSE PERCEIVED LIMITATIONS. A GENERAL METHODOLOGY HAS BEEN DEVELOPED THAT ALLEVIATES THESE LIMITATIONS TO VARYING DEGREES. AN OPPORTUNITY EXISTS TO EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL OF APPLYING THIS GENERAL METHODOLOGY, AUTOMATED AS THE SIMRAND (SIMULATION OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT) COMPUTER MODEL, TO THE OPTIMAL SELECTION OF WEAPON SYSTEM R&D PROJECTS. EXAMPLE CASES WILL BE PERFORMED USING THE MODEL. RESULTS WILL BE ANALYZED TO VALIDATE THE USE OF THE SIMRAND MODEL AND THE INPUT DATA SET AND TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF A PHASE II EFFORT. THE PHASE II EFFORT COULD INCLUDE AND ENHANCEMENT OF THE SIMRAND METHODOLOGY THROUGH AN OPTIMIZATION BASED ON UNIQUE WEAPON SYSTEM R&D VARIABLES, THE INCLUSION OF ADDITIONAL DECISION ANALYSIS METHODS THAT MORE CLOSELY MODEL MILITARY WEAPON SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT REQUIREMENTS, OR THE EXPAN SION OF THE DECISION MAKING PHILSOPHY TO INCLUDE GROUP DECISIONS AS MIGHT BE EXPERIENCED IN INTERSERVICE R&D PROGRAMS.