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ments that the system must be able to perform once it is delivered, tested, and
installed. In many instances, the requirements specification document becomes
an integral part of the SOW that is included in the RFP or request for bid (RFB)
packages that are made available to the potential vendors.
It is critically important to clearly distinguish the requirements for the vendor
from those for the system to be purchased. You are not just purchasing a COTS
product; you are purchasing services from the vendor, including training, inte-
gration, shipping, and installation. The SOW tells the vendor what you want
the vendor to do. It should be organized around a work breakdown structure
(WBS) to which the vendor should align their work and work products.
A typical WBS for an AFIS procurement could look like this:

1. Project management: reporting, reviews, master schedule, WBS dictionary,
etc.
2. Design and integration: design documents and reviews, and necessary soft-
ware coding, procurement of all components and their integration, factory
acceptance testing, etc.
3. Delivery, installation, and training: facility impact analysis, packing, shipping,
unpacking, wiring, integration with local systems and communications, tran-
sition planning and support, training, on-site acceptance testing, etc.
4. Warrantee and maintenance services
5. Card or other file conversion effort: standards, reports, output, data owner-
ship, etc.

Each SOW task should identify any deliverables associated with it. 3

7.5.3 REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION

Project definition is one of the most crucial steps in successful project devel-
opment. Until the government understands exactly what it wants the AFIS to
do and how it wants it to accomplish these tasks, the requirements specifica-
tion (requirements spec) cannot be developed. The conversations with the
vendors during the ConOps development process are critical to ensuring that
your requirements are achievable, reasonable, and understood. The require-
ments spec will form the core of any RFP that is released to potential bidders.
Developing a detailed and unambiguous requirements specification docu-
ment is a complex process that generally requires cooperation and input from
all members of the project development team. Requirements specification

3 For a further discussion of deliverables and SOW and WBS definitions, see Ch. 9 of Biometrics:
Identity Assurance in the Information Age, Woodward, Orlans, and Higgins, 2002, by Osborne, a
McGraw Hill Company.