CAIV is a strategy that entails setting aggressive, yet realistic cost objectives when defining operational requirements and acquiring defense systems and managing achievement of these objectives. Cost objectives must balance mission needs with projected out-year resources, taking into account existing technology, maturation of new technologies and anticipated process improvements in both DoD and industry. As system performance and cost objectives are decided (on the basis of cost-performance trade-offs), the requirements and acquisition processes will make cost more of a constraint, and less of a variable, while nonetheless obtaining the needed military capability of the system. Although much discussion of CAIV is centered on new systems, there is always opportunity for cost reduction. CAIV principles are applicable throughout a system's life cycle.

The key tenets of CAIV are:

• Requirements are stated in terms of capabilities and may be exchanged, substituted, or adjusted for the sake of another. Capabilities should be established at the system level and not at lower levels.
• Early and continuous customer/warfighter participation in setting and adjusting program goals throughout the program is imperative.
• Trade space (i.e., cost gradient with respect to performance) around the cost objective is encouraged.
• Realistic but aggressive cost objectives are set early and updated for each phase of an acquisition program.

This web site is devoted to discussing and disseminating information on CAIV policy promulgated by the U. S. Defense Department. Web pages have been created to provide users with hot links to OSD and Service web sites containing key CAIV information and documents. Only open, public access web site locations are referenced--no restricted locations will be referenced or posted.

Personnel from the Department of Defense and Services are encouraged to contact Dr. Edmund H. Conrow (owner and operator of this site) to update hyperlinks and provide brief summaries of key CAIV research and conferences of interest to the defense community. (Eventually, one or more web pages will be allocated to each Service to highlight their CAIV activities and hyperlinks.)

No postings from or hyperlinks to commercial organizations will be accepted.

This web site is owned and operated by Dr. Edmund H. Conrow, and does not represent an official position of the U. S. Defense Department, any of its organizations or Services. The information posted on this web site is provided without charge to the U. S. government, and is a free service to the defense community. While an attempt has been made to insure that the information and hyperlinks posted are current, no warranty of any type is provided for the data and hyperlinks contained on this web site. People accessing this web site use its information and that of associated (hyperlink) web sites at their own risk. Where a notation is given that data was "modified from" a source, this indicates that I have edited the information and have included my own perspective on the material.

The CAIV Logo used in this web site was developed by the United States Air Force.