Interoperability has traditionally been considered a property of operational systems, where systems are able to exchange information in some agreed-upon fashion. However, other aspects of interoperability are often overlooked. This report introduces one of those aspects—the concept of programmatic interoperability, which is the application of principles of interoperability to the acquisition management of systems. It shows how programmatic interoperability contributes to fielding interoperable capabilities and relates this aspect to current trends such as network-centric operations. The report also discusses the orchestration of decisions and activities that are applicable to acquisition in a system-of-systems environment. Finally, the report suggests several research topics.

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