FEASIBILITY STUDY

RAMP CORPORATION PROPOSES TO ACCOMPLISH PERFORMANCE EVALUATION ON MICROCOMPUTER BASED EXPERT SYSTEMS FOR THE PURPOSE OF SELECTING A SYSTEM APPROPRIATE FOR USE IN FEDERAL CONTRACT MANAGEMENT SUPPORT. THE PROJECT OUTPUTS WILL BE A DEMONSTRATION MODULE FOCUSED ON CONTRACT CHANGES AND A FINAL REPORT WHICH DOCUMENTS THE SELECTION PROCESS AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION CRITERIA UTILIZED IN THE EFFORT. THE EXPERT SYSTEM APPROACH IS SEEN AS A WAY TO PROVIDE EFFICIENT ENTRY INTO THE COMPLICATED KNOWLEDGE BASE REPRESENTED BY THE FAR AND ITS SUPPLEMENTS. THE GUIDANCE OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM MAY BE DEMONSTRATED IN THE WELL DEFINED WORLD OF CONTRACT CHANGES AND THEN EXTRAPOLATED INTO THE LARGER AND MORE COMPLEX WORLD OF THE FAR. SIGNIFICANT PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT SHOULD RESULT FROM A RIGOROUS TOOL THAT WILL SUPPORT CONTRACT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES FOR BOTH THE GOVERNMENT AND ITS OUTSIDE CONTRACTORS. THE EFFORT WILL ALSO ADVANCE THE EXPERIENCE BASE UPON WHICH SELECTION AND APPLICATION OF EXPERT SYSTEMS MAY BE MADE IN THE FUTURE. RAMP SEEKS TO DEVELOP A TOOL WHICH WILL BE CAPABLE OF RUNNING ON THE TYPICAL PC FOUND IN SUCH NUMBERS THROUGHOUT THE GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY. IT ALSO SEEKS TO PROVIDE A TOOL WHICH IS IMMEDIATELY USEFUL WITHOUT LENGTHY TRAINING AND WHICH WILL PROVIDE A COMMON BASIS FOR COOPERATION AMONG ALL INVOLVED WITH GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING.