Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System
The Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System, is the formal United States Department of Defense process which defines
acquisition requirements and evaluation criteria for future defense
programs. JCIDS was created to replace the previous service-specific
requirements generation system that allowed redundancies in
capabilities and failed to meet the combined needs of all US
military services. In order to correct these problems, JCIDS is
intended to guide the development of requirements for future
acquisition systems to reflect the needs of all four services by focusing the requirements generation process on needed capabilities as requested or defined by one of the US combatant commanders. In an ideal implementation of the JCIDS process, regional and functional combatant commanders give early and continuous feedback into the acquisition and sustainment processes to ensure their current and evolving requirements are known and met.
History
JCIDS was developed under the direction of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to address shortfalls in the United States Department of Defense requirements generationsystem identified by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. These shortfalls
were identified as: not considering new programs in the context of
other programs, insufficiently considering combined service
requirements and ineffectively prioritizing joint service requirements,
and accomplishing insufficient analysis. The drive to create JCIDS
was born out of a March 2002 Secretary of Defense memorandum to
the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff requesting a study on
alternative ways to evaluate requirements. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff approved the most recent JCIDS Instruction on 23 January 2015 and its accompanying manual was released on 12 February 2015. CJCS
Instruction 3170.01I provides a top-level description of the process and
outlines the organizational responsibilities. The JCIDS Manual defines performance attributes, key performance parameters, validation and approval processes, and associated document content.
Methodology
The central focus of JCIDS is to address capability shortfalls, orgaps as defined by combatant commanders. Thus, JCIDS is said to
provide a capabilities-based approach to requirements generation.
The previous requirements generation system focused on addressing
future threat scenarios. While understanding the risks associated with
future threat postures is necessary to develop effective weapons
systems, a sufficient methodology requires a joint perspective which
can both prioritize the risk associated with future threats and
consider operational gaps in the context of all the services. If
requirements are developed in this joint context, there is
simultaneously a smaller chance of developing superfluously overlapping
systems and a greater probability that weapons systems would be
operational with one another. The Joint Capability Areas were established in conjunction with JCIDS in order to provide for a common lexicon throughout the US Department of Defense. Another major emphasis of JCIDS is to consider whether a solution to a potential operational gap requires the
development of a physical system or a
procedural or training based solution.
In this sense, the JCIDS process provides a solution space that
considers solutions involving any combination of doctrine,
organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel
and facilities. The Joint Staff, J6, Joint Deployable Analysis Team supports JCIDS by providing recommendations based on quantifiable data. JDAT collects and analyzes data and provides observations,
findings, conclusions, and recommendations to identify policy, Joint doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures ; and materiel solutions and products that
promote capability improvement.
Since combatant commanders define
requirements in consultation with the Office of the Secretary of
Defense, they are able to consider gaps in the context of
strategic direction for the total US military force and influence the
direction of requirements earlier in the acquisition process.
The JCIDS process starts with the development of joint integrating
concepts and the capability they imply from the US Secretary of Defense
and combatant commanders. From the joint integrating concepts,
the joint chiefs of staff refine requirements and develop an integrated
priority list via a joint quarterly readiness review. Military
judgement is further applied by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council which validates requirement attributes
and determines how to produce the required capability. From the JROC, the JCIDS process maps current programs against the
standard as defined by JROC attributes to determine if gaps exist in
providing the concepts defined by the SecDef and combatant commanders.
JCIDS analysis
In order to assess US capability to execute Joint Integrating Conceptsthere are three phases to capabilities-based assessment: a functional
area analysis, a functional needs analysis, and a functional solutions
analysis. The functional area analysis identifies operational tasks,
conditions and standards needed to accomplish objectives. The
Functional Needs Analysis assesses the ability of current and
programmed capabilities to accomplish the tasks identified in the
functional area analysis. The end product of these first two levels of
analysis is a list of capability gaps. Functional solutions analysis
evaluates solutions from an operational perspective across the
DOTMLPF spectrum. The FSA results in a list of potential need-based
solutions and is further divided into three subcomponents: non-materiel
analysis, materiel solutions and the Analysis of Materiel Approaches to determine the
best materiel or combination of approaches to produce the best
capability. The final analysis is the Post-Independent Analysis which
reviews the previous three functional analyses and selects an approach
or approaches that best close the capability gaps. The original
proposal sponsor documents a recommended change or produces an
Initial Capabilities Document for a system.
A proposal receives one of three designations based on the degree in
which it applies to all three services: "JROC Interest", "JCB Interest", or "Joint
Informationn". "JROC Interest" programs apply to any program the JROC decides to review and
all Acquisition Category 1/1A programs.
Output documents
Three documents are the output of the JCIDS analysis which togetherdefine needed capabilities, guide materiel development and direct the
production of capabilities. Each of these documents supports a major
design approval decision each with gradual improving design maturity A,
B or C. The sponsor is the single focal point for all three documents.
The Initial Capabilities Document defines the capability need and
where it fits in broader concepts, ultimately supporting the milestone
A decision.. When the
technology development phase is complete, a Capability Development Document is produced which provides more detail on the materiel
solution of the desired capability and supports Milestone B decisions.
. Most important, the CDD also defines the
thresholds and objectives against which the capability will be
measured. After approval, the CDD guides the Engineering and Manufacturing Development Phase of the acquisition process. The Capability
Production Document supports the Milestone C decision necessary
to start the Production & Deployment Phase to include low-rate initial production and operational tests. The CPD
potentially refines the thresholds from the CDD based on lessons
learned during the Engineering and Manufacturing Development Phase.
Actors
The DoD component that oversees the JCIDS analyses acts as the sponsor. The sponsor also evaluates the affordability of various proposals and approaches determined in the study. Moreover, the sponsor coordinates with non-DoD departments and agencies on interagency capability matters.The Joint Staff, J8, Vice Director, is the gatekeeper of the JCIDS process. The gatekeeper assigns the JPD, and assigns lead and supporting functional capabilities boards FCBs, and performs an initial review. The gatekeeper initially reviews all proposals, and then designates the Joint Potential Designation, and which Functional Capability Board and Joint Warfighting Capability Assessment Teams will receive the proposal. The Joint Potential Designation is based on input from Joint Forces Command, each of the Joint Warfighting Capability Assessment teams, and other elements of the Joint Staff. The gatekeeper periodically reevaluates the Joint Potential designation throughout the process because changes in the proposed capability may require it to change as well.
When the gatekeeper has completed the initial review, she or he assigns the analysis to a functional capabilities board. This board replaces the joint requirements panel from the previous system, with expanded responsibilities and membership. The FCB is responsible for ensuring that new capabilities are developed with a joint warfighting context; ensuring that proposals are consistent with the Joint Force as described in the Joint Operating Concepts; validating Joint Impact proposals; organizing, analyzing and prioritizing capabilities proposals; supervising development and updating of functional concepts; and ensuring that integrated architectures are reflective of their functional area.
The JROC now charters six FCBs :
- C4/Cyber
- Battlespace Awareness
- Force Application
- Logistics
- Protection
- Force Integration
Joint warfighting capability assessment teams coordinate with and aid the sponsor to prevent needless overlapping of proposals across components and to ensure that joint capability gaps are properly addressed. They support the gatekeeper in determining the Joint Potential Designation and the lead and/or supporting JWCAs for each JCIDS document in the process. They also work with other JWCAs to make sure that analyses do not overlook any joint aspects.