ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how risks are created by uncertainty, the identification of the risks, and the corrective and preventive actions needed to mitigate these risks to increase the probability of project success. A framing assumption (FA) informs acquisition leaders about key project assumptions, enables discussion of their validity, and establishes a context for project assessments. A FA is any supposition that is central in shaping cost, schedule, or performance expectations of an acquisition project. Risk is the potential consequence of a specific outcome affecting a system’s ability to meet cost, schedule, and/or technical objectives. For the project manager, there are three risk categories that must be identified and handled: technical, programmatic, and business. Without a programmatic architecture supporting the technical architecture, risks and their corrections and preventions to deliver needed technical capabilities cannot be defined, assessed, or measured, reducing the probability of program success.
