The Department of Defense (DoD) requires review of Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPS) and decisions by senior officials on the basis of a program's dollar value, irrespective of risk. The authors of this paper propose a new paradigm in which the level of management and oversight would be based on the level of risk a program represents, including technical, system integration, design, production, and business innovation risk. The authors also examine the extent to which DoD is prepared to assess these categories of risk, and identifies descriptive levels that could be used to assess and categorize design and business process risk.

"Prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense"--T.p.

Introduction / Managing by risk level versus dollar value / Focusing on causes rather than consequences. Well-defined process for assessing technical risk is in place -- System integration risk is assessed, but at later stages -- The risks of design process management are not well understood -- Evaluation of production risks lacks rigor -- The risk of early business decisions is not fully appreciated / Conclusions.