An Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) is a joint effort by the acquisition and operational (warfighter) communities within the DoD, the primary object of which is to provide the decisionmakers with an opportunity to fully understand the operational potential offered by a given advanced concept and/or technology/system to meet an urgent military operational need prior to an acquisition decision.
An "Implementation Directive" may be useful to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the various parties executing the ACTD and to provide unambiguous top level guidance. This document is envisioned as a succinct (one to two pages) agreement which defines the operational capability to be demonstrated, the general approach, the agencies responsible for planning and conducting the demonstration, and the approximate funding and schedule.
The ACTD Implementation Directive should be agreed upon and signed at the command level by the principal parties ultimately accountable for its pursuance. Each ACTD has a sponsoring "user" organization (typically a CINC or a CINC component plus Service and Joint Staff), which agrees to provide the forces necessary to conduct the demonstration exercises (typically through its Service components). Likewise, the executing acquisition organization (Service or Agency) agrees to provide funding and materiel elements and integrates them, along with other participants, into the demonstration. Finally, the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Advanced Technology (DUSD(AT)) will be a signatory to the Directive as a representative of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Acquisition and Technology Office. Thus, an ACTD Implementation Directive would typically have at least five signatories (or their designee) as follows: (1) Sponsoring CINC or component; (2) Operations Deputy of Executing Service; (3) Joint Staff/JS/JWCA representative; (4) SAE of Executing Service; and (5) DUSD(AT).
The ACTD Implementation Directive would typically include:
If possible, the Directive should be available (even if unsigned, in draft form) at the time of the ACTD briefings to the AT Breakfast Club and to the JWCA. Following a favorable decision by DUSD(AT) to proceed with the ACTD, final editing of the directive and endorsements should be achieved as rapidly as possible; its confirmation would represent the formal initiation of the ACTD and trigger transfer of OSD funds to the executing agent.