Typically there is a significant amount of time that elapses between the solicitation and award of a contract for a program. During this time the IT environment will most likely have changed, and the IMP needs to have the flexibility to support this change.

The solicitation should not prescribe a specific system solution for this reason, and the industrial implementation may be phased at the start of the contract to accommodate the following:

• Installation of hardware and software if required
• Integration with government infrastructures
• Integration of supplier base
• Implementation of security
• User Training
• User Support Capability
• Test, Evaluation and Acceptance