Selection process for commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products used as defence equipment

Abstract: The main objective of this research study is to present a well-defined customised framework for the evaluation and selection process of COTS products for use as military defence equipment. In an attempt to reduce the time and cost associated with the research and development of military defence equipment, the department of defence worldwide have shifted to the procurement of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products. However, it has been reported that organisations are still facing challenges in the evaluation and selection of the right COTS products amongst a set of competing products. One of the reasons for this is that there is a variety of COTS products on the market and they are not designed to meet the requirements of a particular military organisation but a wide range of users. Therefore, with a variety of COTS products offered by the defence industry that differ in cost and quality, the problem is how the defence acquisition organisation select the right COTS products that meet military requirements and client expectations. This research study investigates the process that should be followed to ensure successful evaluation and selection of the right COTS products amongst many competing products offered by the defence industry. In addition, the research aims to investigate how evaluators do overcomes the challenges associated with the evaluation and selection of COTS products so as to ensure the procurement project success. The acquisition of new chemical warfare agents defence equipment project was used as a case study. It was found that the process followed by the organisation to select COTS products does not include the user requirements phase as it is considered the client’s responsibility. However, the organisation process includes user requirements review to validate the completeness of the user requirement specification submitted by the client. The finding showed that one of the challenge faced by the organisation is user requirements that are not clear, uncomplete and can be misunderstood by the evaluation team. The gap identified was a lack of support to the client during the user requirements phase. In this research a framework for the evaluation and selection of COTS products used as military defence equipment is proposed. The aim is to close the gap identified in this research and to help the organisation improve its selection process for COTS products by supporting the client to define the requirements.M.Phil. (Engineering Management