Abstract
The main objective of this research study is to present a well-defined customised
framework for the evaluation and selection process of COTS products for use as
military defence equipment. In an attempt to reduce the time and cost associated
with the research and development of military defence equipment, the department of
defence worldwide have shifted to the procurement of commercial off-the-shelf
(COTS) products. However, it has been reported that organisations are still facing
challenges in the evaluation and selection of the right COTS products amongst a set
of competing products. One of the reasons for this is that there is a variety of COTS
products on the market and they are not designed to meet the requirements of a
particular military organisation but a wide range of users. Therefore, with a variety of
COTS products offered by the defence industry that differ in cost and quality, the
problem is how the defence acquisition organisation select the right COTS products
that meet military requirements and client expectations. This research study
investigates the process that should be followed to ensure successful evaluation and
selection of the right COTS products amongst many competing products offered by
the defence industry. In addition, the research aims to investigate how evaluators do
overcomes the challenges associated with the evaluation and selection of COTS
products so as to ensure the procurement project success. The acquisition of new
chemical warfare agents defence equipment project was used as a case study. It
was found that the process followed by the organisation to select COTS products
does not include the user requirements phase as it is considered the client’s
responsibility. However, the organisation process includes user requirements review
to validate the completeness of the user requirement specification submitted by the
client. The finding showed that one of the challenge faced by the organisation is user
requirements that are not clear, uncomplete and can be misunderstood by the
evaluation team. The gap identified was a lack of support to the client during the
user requirements phase. In this research a framework for the evaluation and
selection of COTS products used as military defence equipment is proposed. The
aim is to close the gap identified in this research and to help the organisation
improve its selection process for COTS products by supporting the client to define
the requirements.
M.Phil. (Engineering Management)