FBCB2 will be the principal digital command and control system for the Army at the brigade level and below and will constitute the third major component of the Army’s Battle Command System. Currently, the Battle Command System comprises the (1) Global Command and Control System-Army located at strategic and theater levels, which interoperates with other theater, joint, and multinational command and control systems, and with Army systems at the corps and levels below and (2) Army Tactical Command and Control System, which meets the command and control needs from corps to battalion. When fielded, FBCB2 is expected to provide enhanced situational awareness to the lowest tactical level—the individual soldier—and a seamless flow of command and control information across the battle space. To accomplish these objectives, FBCB2 will be composed of a computer that can display a variety of information, including a common picture of the battlefield overlaid with graphical depictions (known as icons) of friendly and enemy forces; software that automatically integrates Global Positioning System data, military intelligence data, combat identification data, and platform data (such as the status of fuel and ammunition); and interfaces to communications systems. Battlefield data will be communicated to and received from users of FBCB2 through a “Tactical Internet.” This is a radio network comprising the Enhanced Position Location Reporting System (EPLRS) and the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS). By connecting platforms through this Tactical Internet, data needed for battlefield situational awareness and command and control decisions can be made available to commanders at all levels of the Army’s Battle Command System. To explore the FBCB2 concept, the Army acquired and installed sufficient quantities of equipment to field a brigade-size experimental force in June 1996. This experimental force then used FBCB2 prototype equipment in an Advanced Warfighting Experiment, which culminated in March 1997 during a 2-week deployment against an opposing force at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California. Results from the Advanced Warfighting Experiment were considered sufficiently positive that the Army conducted an FBCB2 milestone I/II review in July 1997. FBCB2 was conditionally approved for entry into the engineering and manufacturing development acquisition phase (acquisition milestone II) pending completion of certain essential action items, including the final Operational Requirements Document and the Test and Evaluation Master Plan. The program is expected to incur life-cycle costs of about $3 billion (in then-year dollars) by fiscal year 2012. DOD Regulation 5000.2R offers a general model for management of the acquisition process for programs such as FBCB2. This regulation states that managers shall structure a program to ensure a logical progression through a series of phases designed to reduce risk, ensure affordability, and provide adequate information for decision-making. At the start of a program, consideration is given to program size, complexity, and risk and a determination is made regarding acquisition category. More costly, complex, and risky systems are generally accorded more oversight. The determination made at program initiation is reexamined at each milestone in light of then-current program conditions. The regulation describes the differences among acquisition categories and places them in one of three categories: I, II, or III. In general, the milestone decision authority for category I programs is at a higher level than category II or III programs. In addition, category I programs generally require that more information—such as an Analysis of Alternatives and a Cost Analysis Improvement Group review—be available for decision-making. Category I programs are defined as programs estimated by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology to require eventual expenditure for research, development, test, and evaluation of more than $355 million (fiscal year 1996 constant dollars) or procurement of more than $2.1 billion (fiscal year 1996 constant dollars). Category II programs have lower dollar classification thresholds than category I programs; for example, the research, development, test, and evaluation dollar threshold for an acquisition category II program is $140 million (fiscal year 1996 constant dollars). Category III programs are defined as those which do not meet the criteria for category I or II programs. FBCB2 is currently classified as a category II acquisition program. FBCB2 is currently designated a category II acquisition on the basis of the Army’s estimate of research, development, test, and evaluation costs. As a result, oversight is provided within the Army. We believe that the program should be a category I acquisition on the basis of (1) significance of the program; (2) estimated research, development, test, and evaluation costs; and (3) high schedule risk. The Army acknowledges that the program schedule involves high risk. Throughout the next decade and beyond, the Army plans to modernize its forces through an overarching initiative called Force XXI. Components of the Force XXI initiative are Army XXI, which extends to about the year 2010, and the Army After Next, which is looking beyond the year 2010. Included within the modernization objectives of Army XXI is the integration of information technologies to acquire, exchange, and employ timely information throughout the battle space. In general, integrated situational awareness and command and control information technologies available to Army commanders currently extend through the Army Tactical Command and Control System to tactical operations centers at the brigade and battalion levels. By extending the integration of information technologies to the thousands of soldiers operating outside the tactical operations centers, the Army expects to increase the lethality, survivability, and operational tempo of its forces. FBCB2 is the critical link needed to extend the information to those soldiers. On August 1, 1997, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans announced that the first digitized division would be the 4th Infantry Division and that, at a minimum, fielded equipment would include the Army Training and Doctrine Command’s list of priority one systems and associated equipment. The Training and Doctrine Command has identified 15 priority one systems. They primarily consist of command, control, and communications systems, including FBCB2. It is considered a critical element within the Army’s digitization effort because of the contribution it makes to achieving the required capabilities for the digitized battlefield. Approved by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in January 1995, these capabilities are integrated battle command from platoon to corps, relevant common picture of the battle space at each level, smaller units that are more lethal and survivable, more responsive logistics within and between theaters, and joint interoperability at appropriate levels. It is unlikely that all of the required capabilities of the digitized battlefield can be achieved without FBCB2. However, despite this critical role, the Army has not designated FBCB2 as a category I acquisition—a designation it has given to the other major systems in the Army’s Battle Command System. The significance of this program has also been noted by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Operational Test and Evaluation Office, which in October 1997 recommended that FBCB2 be elevated to an acquisition category I-D status on the basis of the program’s “significant and far-reaching impact.” That office placed FBCB2 on the same level as the Army’s Maneuver Control System, which is also an acquisition category I-D program. The Maneuver Control System is a key component of the Army’s Tactical Command and Control System that provides automated critical battlefield assistance to commanders and their battle staff at the corps-to-battalion level. The Army’s cost estimate for research, development, test, and evaluation activities, adjusted to fiscal year 1996 constant dollars, is $265.4 million. This estimate covers the period from fiscal year 1997 through fiscal year 2004. However, we believe the Army’s estimate is understated in that other research, development, test, and evaluation costs should be added. As shown in table 1, these costs raise the research, development, test, and evaluation cost estimate above the category I threshold of $355 million. We discussed these figures with Army program officials, and they agreed with $7.2 million of our additional costs, which included partial amounts from the Warfighter Rapid Acquisition Program related to the FBCB2 computer—$2 million of the fiscal year 1997 ($1.4 million) and 1998 ($0.6 million)—and a $5.2-million difference between what was included in the life-cycle cost estimate ($47 million) and the actual budget request ($52.5 million) converted to 1996 constant dollars. Army officials disagreed with the addition of remaining cost categories amounting to $113.1 million on the basis that (1) Army policies and procedures require them to include only those funds obligated by the program office after the establishment of a formal acquisition program; (2) FBCB2-related funds obligated by other program managers, such as the Abrams and Bradley managers, should be excluded; and (3) costs directly related to test and evaluation activities for acquisition category II, like FBCB2, are identified in the Army’s Operational Test and Evaluation Command’s Support of Operational Testing program element. Our assessment of the Army’s arguments follows. The Army Digitization Program provided $47.6 million for FBCB2 research, development, test, and evaluation activities through fiscal year 1996. The funds used were to buy FBCB2 prototype hardware and software used in the Advanced Warfighting Experiment at the National Training Center. Army officials stated that these funds were obligated prior to the establishment of the FBCB2 acquisition program and thus should not be included in this cost estimate.