Naval Postgraduate School

An Examination of the Navy's Future Naval Capability Technology Transition Process Naval Postgraduate School

Publisher Marketing: The ability to transition technology developments to operational systems is of great importance to the Department of the Navy (DoN). One way to achieve increased transitions is to operate more efficiently - more "like a business." Over the years significant programmatic and policy changes have been introduced in the DoN. One of these changes was the initiation of a new science and technology (S&T) transition process for delivering new capabilities in a more focused manner -- the Future Naval Capability (FNC) process. This thesis examines the FNC technology transition process from a business process perspective. A number of common business parameters are researched and used for comparison to the FNC Process. The goals and objectives of the FNC Process are documented and feedback is obtained from the stakeholder community. Although the FNC Process is new, and remains a work-in-progress, the results of this thesis reveal frustration and concern from all stakeholder communities regarding continued difficulties with the process for delivering new capabilities to the warfighter. In comparing FNC Process parameters to those in the commercial sector this research identifies areas where the FNC operations differ from the private sector. In those areas where useful comparisons can be made the FNC metrics fall short. To realize the increased transitions desired, fundamental changes are still needed.