Systems Engineering Division

Mission: 

To promote the widespread use of systems engineering (SE) in the Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition process in order to achieve affordable and supportable weapon systems that meet the needs of the military users. To provide a forum for the open exchange of ideas and concepts between government, industry and academia. To develop a new understanding of a streamlined SE process.

NDIA formed the Systems Engineering (SE) Division over 10 years ago to address technical and management issues related to DoD acquisition reform and to promote an integrated and balanced approach to weapon system design.

The SE Division seeks to effect good technical and business practices within the aerospace and defense industry. It focuses on improving delivered system performance, including supportability, sustainability, and affordability. The division emphasizes SE excellence in such areas as engineering processes, use of COTS, open systems architecture, SE disciplines, developmental test and evaluation (DT&E), supportability, education & training, modeling and simulation, software, integrated diagnostics, prognostics and enterprise health management, affordability, system assurance, system safety and human systems integration, and overall quality.

The SE Division is supported by Mr. Stephen P. Welby, Director, Systems Engineering, in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.  The Systems Engineering directorate is responsible for all matters relating to DoD major program acquisition systems engineering, software engineering, systems assurance, and systems of systems engineering.  The directorate includes the offices of Major Program Support, Mission Assurance, and System Analysis, with respnsibilities in acquisition program support and oversight, systems engineering policy and guidance, human capital, software acquisition management and engineering, system integration, and government-industry collaboration.  The directorate's 2010 focus area include workforce development, early systems engineering, simplifying defense acquistion guidance, and promoting best systems engineering practices to reduce risk.

The directorate provides SE support to acquisition programs through targeted program assessments that identify issues and risks early in the acquisition cycle in order to provide recommendations to improve program outcomes. The SSE team also manages the associated Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) competency models and certification standards that affect more than 40,000 members of the acquisition workforce assigned to the systems, planning, research, development and engineering; and production, quality, and manufacturing career fields.

The NDIA SE Division is organized to support these DoD activities and initiatives. Active SE Division committees include Systems Engineering Effectiveness; Systems-of-Systems Engineering, Mission Assurance, Education & Training; Modeling and Simulation; Quality and Reliability Assurance; Life Cycle Support; Automatic Test; Software; System Assurance; Enterprise Health Management including Integrated Diagnostics & Prognostics; Developmental Test & Evaluation; Interoperability & Net-Centric Operations; System Safety; Human Systems Integration; and Quality Assurance.

The SE Division has taken on a number of lead roles and major projects in support of key DoD initiatives. It is the industry sponsor of the DoD/industry Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI^®) project, which involved restructuring the previously stand-alone Software Engineering Institute (SEI) capability maturity models into an integrated model. The SE Division hosts the annual Systems Engineering Conference and CMMI^® Technology Conference and User Group. The division has performed numerous tasks and studies for OSD and the Services and several tasks for the Defense Science Board.

The SE Division serves as a lead activity with invited participation by several affiliate organizations, including the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), National Training and Simulation Association (NTSA), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and SAE International.

The SE Division does not seek to duplicate any significant effort ongoing in another NDIA division or committee, industry association, or professional society, but rather to complement efforts by bringing the activity into the division structure as an affiliate partner.  This collaboration magnifies the resources and talent available to our DoD sponsor. The SE Division meets every other month, with its committees meeting on the off month or in conjunction with the full division meeting.

Division Links:

Awards
Upcoming Events
Past Meetings
Major Current Tasks and Activities
Studies & Publications

Division Committees

• Automatic Test Committee
• Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Project
• CMMI Working Group
• Developmental Test & Evaluation Committee
• Education & Training Committee  
• Enterprise Health Management Committee
• Government Liaison Committee
• Human Systems Integration Committee
• Interoperability Committee
• Joint Committee for Systems Engineering and Manufacturing  
• Life Cycle Support Committee
• Mission Analysis Committee
• Modeling & Simulation Committee    
• Quality Assurance Committee
• Software Experts Panel
• Steering Committee
• Systems Assurance Committee         
• Systems Engineering Effectiveness Committee  
• Systems Safety Committee  
• Systems of Systems Engineering Committee

Affiliate Associations