Understanding and Leveraging a Supplier’s CMMI Efforts: A Guidebook for Acquirers Released
March 2007
The CMMI Steering Group and the Software Engineering Institute announce that Understanding and Leveraging a Supplier’s CMMI Efforts: A Guidebook for Acquirers has been released and is available for use.
The CMMI product suite has gained significant traction across the commercial and defense product development community within the United States and a number of foreign countries. As co-sponsors of CMMI, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (OUSD[AT&L]) and the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) are concerned with ensuring there is adequate guidance for acquisition organizations around the world, in government and industry, to leverage these disciplined practices of the development community.
The guidebook was developed for acquisition personnel who are responsible for planning the acquisition strategy and preparing information associated with a request for proposal for systems acquisition. It provides insight on the following:
- interpreting a supplier’s claims of achieving a CMMI rating
- the significance of the improvements to the CMMI Product Suite in v1.2
- how to request, understand, interpret, and use the results of a supplier’s CMMI appraisals
- how to determine which process areas are critical to the success of the program
- methods that leverage a supplier’s process improvement initiatives
- how to gather and interpret information for effectively monitoring supplier processes throughout the execution of an acquisition program
The guidebook also provides insight into CMMI terminology and the meaning of CMMI ratings to promote effective communication with supplier organizations and avoid misuse and misinterpretation of the model. It also helps acquisition organizations avoid problems that can result from unrealistic expectations related to capability and maturity level ratings. The guidebook helps clarify what those ratings can and cannot indicate about a supplier’s capabilities and performance.
The guidebook represents a crucial link, captured in a single document, between the acquirer and the supplier, and encourages a continuous approach to process improvement.
If you have questions or comments, send email to cmmi-comments@sei.cmu.edu.
