“Time-Certain Development”:

The Air Force may embrace something called “time-certain development,” at least that is one new acquisition approach under consideration, according to Maj. Gen. Mark Pillar, who is the top Reservist in USAF’s acquisition office. Pillar was speaking at an industry day conference last week when he said the service was considering employing the time-certain development concept because it would enable USAF to conduct preliminary design reviews of all concepts under consideration rather than down-selecting before going into system development and demonstration. Utilizing time-certain development procedures and making schedule a key performance parameter are among the many reform recommendations found in the Defense Acquisition Performance Assessment Report, issued earlier this year.