D7.0  EQUIPMENT ACQUISITION STANDARDS AND APPLICATION PROFILES (VERSION 2 SECTION 10.0)

D7.1  Acquisition Processes
The Acquisition Phase of a NATO Project encompasses all Business functions carried out by a System Project Office before a system enters service and is accepted by the designated user(s).

These functions include Logistics Support Analysis, Initial Provisioning and associated activity such as Illustrated Parts Catalogues, NATO Codification, and Order Administration, decisions related to the development of Integrated Logistics Support and the definition and creation of Integrated Databases needed to support both Initial Acquisition and the In-service Phase of the system Life-cycle, and specification of Technical Documentation and Maintenance Manuals.

D7.2  Logistics Support Analysis
Logistics Support Analysis (LSA) consists of a series of analytical tasks which identify the support planning parameters and management requirements for an equipment project, define the support requirements of an equipment, identify major cost drivers, assess and influence the Reliability and Maintainability (R&M) for the design options, identify optimum support solutions, balance life-cycle costs against performance, and verify the support solution adopted once an equipment enters service. The results of LSA are stored in a Logistics Support Analysis Record (LSAR) which is a single database for the equipment.

Note: The NCMB is considering sponsoring the development of an International Standard to support Acquisition Programs and the associated Data Exchange, and this work has started to integrate MIL-STD-1388, AECMA SPEC 2000M, and AECMA SPEC 1000D and to harmonize their associated Data Dictionaries. If this work is successful, the resulting ISO Standard and any associated NATO Applications Profiles (STANAGs) should replace the above Standard and Applications Profile by 1997.

D7.3  Initial Provisioning
Initial Provisioning Procedures are the first steps that constitute the formal process for the acquisition of initial spares needed to support defense equipment. The processes include the identification, listing, and presentation of sparable items, the presentation of Illustrated Parts Catalogues (IPC), and NATO Codification.

D7.4  Illustrated Parts Catalogues
Illustrated Parts Catalogues provide a spare parts breakdown for personnel employed in maintenance and stock management. Although the following standard includes a specification of Illustrated Parts Catalogues, current development work indicates that it may be more appropriate to handle such illustrations as part of Technical Documentation using AECMA 1000D.

D7.5  NATO Codification
NATO uses a standard system of numbering items of supply known as the NATO Codification System (NCS). NCS is designed to achieve maximum effectiveness in national and international logistics support, to facilitate data management in the materiel area, and to identify items which appear to be different but meet the same requirement.

D7.6  Machine Readable Code (Bar Coding)
Items of supply for delivery to NATO Nations have packaging specifications which include the labeling of each item with a machine-readable reference number specified by the NATO codification standard. The machine-readable symbology is specified as a bar code.

D7.7  Order Administration
Order Administration is the term used to describe the methods used for placing orders for new items of supply or repair of repairable items of supply together with the related processes needed to obtain status information about existing orders.

D7.8  Order Administration Format, Content, and Communications Techniques

AECMA SPEC 2000M Revision 2.1 includes a comprehensive set of Order Administration messages that do not conform to ISO 9735/UN EDIFACT. Publication of an EDIFACT-compliant message set is expected in early 1996.

D7.9  Consumption and Maintenance Data Exchange
Mechanisms for the exchange of data about item consumption in-use and on maintenance operations is prescribed in the AECMA 2000M standard, and further work is in hand to extend this work to cover repair activity.

D7.10  Standard Parts Library Data Exchange
The emerging standard for parts libraries will provide open capability for extracting information from different types of structured libraries into application systems and for transferring data between libraries. Libraries can range from parametric definitions through numeric tables to STEP Parts.

Note: The Policy and applicable standards for Parts Libraries, Data transfer for NATO, and the status of the above Standard has not yet been confirmed or validated in the NATO CALS context. NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) currently publishes a Master Cross Reference List of parts subject to NATO Codification for use by the Nations.