A Guide to Interface Management.

The purpose of the report is to develop a guide for use by program management personnel in managing an interface between two or more weapon systems or portions thereof provided by two or more different contractors or government agencies. Existing USAF interface management guidance was identified, reviewed and evaluated with respect to its value to program office personnel in establishing and executing an interface management program. Interface management documentation from past and present USAF programs as well as the writers experience constituted the source from which the interface management documents that exist at the various management levels and the corresponding interface management issues were identified. The applicability of each of the interface management issues to the acquisition process was discussed. The result of the identification of the representative interface management related documents, the identification of interface management issues that historically merit consideration is establishing an interface management program, and the discussion of the applicability of the issues is a guide to interface management that recognizes the complexities of todays acquisition environment and provides program management personnel with the means to establish and execute an effective interface management program. It is concluded that current USAF interface management guidance is inadequate in light of the governments increasing interface management responsibilities. It is feasible to develop an improved form of interface management guidance as accomplished in this report.