CONTRACTING FOR ASSURANCE OF MILITARY AVIATION SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

Reinhardt, S.L.D.W. and McDermid, J.A.

Contracts are instruments which provide a legally binding agreement for the purchase/exchange of goods or services. While both civilian and military aviation software systems arc acquired by contract, in the military circumstance the contract has an additional regulatory and safety assurance role. Military contracts typically achieve the regulatory and safety assurance outcome by ensuring that relevant contract clauses reference applicable regulation and safety standards. However, industrial practice suggests several key factors that influence the effectiveness of the contracting approach to achieving safety. For military aviation software systems, these factors seem to be particularly prevalent. The paradigm of the standard (i.e. goal-based, prescriptive or combinations thereof) is a factor as it influences the perspectives and behaviours of suppliers and acquirers with respect to evidence provision to the regulatory authority. Another prevalent factor is the extent to which the standard guides the effective establishment and execution of' a contract through providing certainty in both product and evidence delivery. Standards may also have a substantial impact on achieved product safety. This paper examines these i11ctors and aims to assess their fact on military aviation sol1ware system contracts. The paper sets out a framework for relating evidence to safety objectives. The framework also provides an approach for identifying, analysing and evaluating the tolerability of limitations (e.g. incompleteness) in evidence for assuring safety. A fictional example is presented to demonstrate application of the framework to the contracting process. Observations on evaluation of the framework are presented to provide support to their validity in industrial practice.

Cite as: Reinhardt, S.L.D.W. and McDermid, J.A. (2012). CONTRACTING FOR ASSURANCE OF MILITARY AVIATION SOFTWARE SYSTEMS. In Proc. Australian System Safety Conference 2012 (ASSC 2012) Brisbane, Australia. CRPIT, 145. Cant, T. Eds., ACS. 91-106

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