7.3.4.6.4  Integrated Master Plan (IMP)

The purpose of the IMP is to demonstrate that the ______________ program is structured to minimize and control risk, to accomplish up-front summary planning and commitment, to provide a basis for subsequent detailed planning, to instill a balanced design discipline, to measure progress of _____________ program life-cycle requirements, and to provide management with in-process verification of requirements in order to make informed milestone decisions.

The IMP is an offeror-generated document, capturing the core activities and processes necessary to implement the program.  The IMP shall be written as an event-based plan containing significant accomplishments and accomplishment criteria needed to successfully complete each major program milestone.  IMP milestones shall be event-oriented and represent integrated product development (encompassing all functional disciplines) of the CWBS elements.  The IMP measures program maturity by marking the initiation/conclusion of events/milestones, significant accomplishments, and associated completion criteria which describe the total work effort necessary to acquire a system which meets contract requirements.  The IMP shall contain narratives that provide the Government a planning and management tool for providing additional insight into the offeror's total work effort and for addressing how the offeror will develop, implement, and commit to the total contracted effort.

The offeror's overall approach shall provide traceability from the system-level requirements (given in the system-level specification) through the offeror's CWBS and SOW to the IMP and IMS, and to the IPT organization.  The IMP shall be a single plan for the entire effort, including associate and/or major subcontractor activities.  There shall be an IMP section/subsection for each of the elements in the offeror's proposed CWBS, as linked to the SOW.  Each section/ subsection of the IMP shall contain Events, Significant Accomplishments, Accomplishment Criteria, and selected Narratives as called for in the example SOW.  The traceability to IPT organization allocates responsibility and accountability and should indicate primary and supporting IPTs.

a. Event: An IMP event is a key contractual or programmatic event defined by the Government or the offeror, which defines progress at a specific point in time.  IMP events mark the conclusion/initiation of intervals of major program activity and serve as decision-oriented measures of program activity related to the program's maturity associated with continued system development.  The offeror is encouraged to identify incremental reviews and milestones and additional events that best reflect the proposed program approach.  The offeror shall include definitions of each event at the beginning of the IMP.  IMP events shall be properly sequenced and may include demonstration milestones, technical or program reviews and audits, and other key decision points.  For each IMP event, there shall be one or more entry or exit significant accomplishments (either entry or exit).

  b. Significant Accomplishment: Significant accomplishments are interim or final critical efforts that must be completed prior to entering or exiting an event.  Significant accomplishments are organized first by the CWBS element/product and then by functional area.  Entry accomplishments reflect what must be complete to initiate an event.  Exit accomplishments reflect what must be done in order for the event to be successfully closed and that ______________ is ready for the next event.  For each significant accomplishment, there shall be one or more accomplishment criteria.  Significant accomplishments include:

(1)  A desired result at a specified event which indicates a level of design maturity,

(2)  A discrete step in a process,

(3)  A description of interrelationship between different functional disciplines.

The Government is seeking Significant Accomplishments that provide sufficient insight to the process for achieving objectives of the SOO.  The accomplishments shall be sequenced in a manner that ensures a logical path is maintained throughout the effort and tracks against key events.

  c. Accomplishment Criteria: Measurable and useful indicators demonstrating that the required level of maturity/progress in an associated significant accomplishment has been achieved.  Accomplishment criteria include:

(1)  Completed work efforts,

(2)  Activities which confirm the value of the technical parameters,

(3)  Internal documents which provide results of in-process verification (successfully completed analysis or other testing activities),

(4)  Completion of critical activities required by the offeror's internal program plans/operating instructions.

Accomplishment Criteria shall include the use of Technical Performance Measures (TPMs) and metrics to track detailed tasking in the IMS.  Preferably, the accomplishment criteria should avoid the use of 'percent completed' and avoid citing data item report numbers rather than identifying and summarizing results.

  d. Narratives: Narratives are a collection of concise statements, with flow diagrams as necessary, describing the offeror's key functional/management processes and procedures.  The IMP narrative is used to supplement IMP accomplishments and associated criteria, provide insight into any SOW tasks not described by IMP accomplishments /criteria, and implement the IPD process.  In particular, a narrative should provide enough information to identify where the accomplishment criteria apply, (i.e., "pickoff points") on the associated process.  The narrative describes the minimum essential processes that the offeror will apply to their products in conformance with Government requirements.

The narratives shall complement the significant accomplishment and accomplishment criteria by indicating where in the particular process the criteria apply.  The concise statements, in addition to describing the offeror's key functional/management processes and procedures, shall describe their relationship to the IPD process and an overview of the efforts required to implement them.  The narrative shall address only the key elements of implementing or developing a process/procedure (i.e., what the process/procedure will be and how it will be implemented and tracked), since the narrative will be included in the contract.  The narrative is not the forum for providing supporting information/rationale (i.e., why a particular approach has been taken). Each narrative subject area shall be arranged in the following format: A. Objective; B. Identification of Governing Documentation: and C. Process (if applicable).  The Objective is a brief statement of desired results and is to be traceable to the SOO.  The Governing Documentation lists the Government documents and/or offeror practices or procedures to be used to achieve the objective.  The offeror shall clearly state whether Government documents will be tailored further and reference in which of the offeror's compliance documentation they will be tailored.  The narrative shall be consistent with applicable technical and management approaches described in the Mission Capability volume of the proposal.