The body of this document is a concise description of suggested procedures for meeting the Technology Readiness Assessment (TRA) requirements of the Defense Acquisition System (DAS). The intent is to provide the staff of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology (DUSD(S&T)) a working appreciation of the overall TRA process, with enough detail to allow them to meet their staff responsibilities. The potential benefit to other Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and Service Component participants is recognized. This deskbook should give those involved with TRAs a greater understanding of how TRAs fit into defense acquisition and what is expected by the DUSD(S&T). The DUSD(S&T) serves as the staff proponent for TRAs for the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E).

The recently revised Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition system is documented in the following documents, each of which is available at http://dod5000.dau.mil/:

• Department of Defense Directive 5000.1, The Defense Acquisition System, dated May 12, 2003. This document is referred to as DoDD 5000.1. It states basic policy for defense acquisition.
  
  
• Department of Defense Instruction 5000.2, Operation of the Defense Acquisition System, dated May 12,. 2003. This document is referred to as DoDI 5000.2. It establishes a flexible management framework for acquisition programs and, among other things, a requirement for TRAs.
  
  
• Interim Defense Acquisition Guidebook, dated October 30, 2002. This document is herein referred to as Interim Guidebook. It provides nonmandatory guidance drawn from the earlier DoD Regulation 5000.2-R.

A central theme of the acquisition process is that the technology employed in system development should be “mature” before system development begins. Normally, for technology to be considered mature, it must have been applied in a prototype article (a system, subsystem, or component), tested in a relevant or operational environment, and found to have performed adequately for the intended application. This implies a need for a way to measure maturity and for a process to ensure that only sufficiently mature technology is employed. The Interim Guidebook provides an outline of a process and suggests activities for performing TRAs; however, this guidance is not mandatory. The document introduces Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) as an accepted way to describe technology maturity and suggests activities that could be carried out by Program Managers (PMs), Component Science and Technology (S&T) Executives, Component Acquisition Executives (CAEs), and the DUSD(S&T).

The appendixes provide extracts from relevant Government Accounting Office (GAO) and DoD reports; policy statements relevant to the TRA process; examples of TRLs and TRAs; specialized definitions and descriptions of TRLs for software and for drugs, vaccines, and medical devices; example procedures; comments on Manufacturing Readiness Levels (MRLs); and the elements of a Technology Transition Agreement. The expectation is that the basic architecture of the TRA process will remain relatively stable over time, whereas the details implementing the process will evolve and become more or less explicit over time. As changes occur, adapting the appendixes or adding new appendixes will provide an effective way for the deskbook to accommodate these changes.