Thursday, May 21, 2015
What is it?
RAND Arroyo Center is the Army’s primary federally-funded research and development center (FFRDC). FFRDCs are unique, independent, non-profit entities sponsored and funded by the U.S. government to meet specific long-term technical needs. The guidance memorandum for the development of the RAND Arroyo Fiscal 2016 research agenda was released on April 8, 2015.
What has the Army done?
This memorandum initiates the study development/nomination process for the FY16 program that culminates with final approval by the Arroyo Center Policy Committee (ACPC), co-chaired by the Under Secretary of the Army, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, and the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology).
Proposals for Arroyo Center research focuses on strategic issues that provide mid- and long-term benefits to Army senior leadership. Selection criteria for Arroyo proposals includes the ability of the research to influence formal Army decisions or processes, the ability of RAND to accomplish the research, importance of the issue being studied, and risk in successfully accomplishing the study. Funding availability and decisions of the ACPC are also considerations for selection.
What efforts does the Army plan to continue in the future?
RAND Arroyo Center is funded by Program Element for the core program and by study sponsor for add-on projects, allowing Army commands to utilize Arroyo’s expertise for strategic analyses at any time via the Arroyo Center collaboration within AKO. The process for developing an annual research agenda for core studies commences with the release of the guidance and concludes annually prior to the beginning of the fiscal year.
Why is this important to the Army?
The RAND Arroyo Center undertakes projects for which it has special competence or capabilities that don’t exist within Army internal analysis organizations or that may be inappropriate for in-house performance. In addition to the Program Element-funded core program, sponsor-funded studies may be added to the research agenda during the fiscal year, as long as Arroyo’s total level of effort for the year does not exceed the number of staff years of technical effort (STE) established by the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Resources:
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