This area is designed to complement DoD Policy on the Defense Acquisition System (DoD Directive 5000.1 and DoD Instruction 5000.2), Military Training (DoD Directive 1322.18 and DoD Instruction 1322.20), and Distributed Learning (DoD Instruction 1322.26).

The ADL Acquisition Guidance Document is a comprehensive collection of guidance information arranged around the major phases of a DoD acquisition. ADL acquisition support is based on this primary resource that covers relevant policy and contract deliverables based on MIL-PRF-29612B Performance Specification for Training Data Products.

Military Performance Specification (MIL-PRF-29612B) and the Military Handbooks (MIL-HDBK) 29612 series of handbooks provides comprehensive discussion on the acquisition and development of training products for DoD. While MIL-PRF-29612B and the MIL-HDBK-29612 handbooks are excellent resources, they were written at a time when an earlier version of SCORM was in effect. Consequently, some of the terminology in these documents is obsolete and no longer exists in the current version of SCORM. The ADL Acquisition Guidance Document is a helpful resource to assist in acquiring ADL capabilities based on MIL-PRF-29612B contract deliverables. The guidance takes into consideration products from both the software and the instructional design points of view.

According to DoD Instruction 1322.26, Development, Management, and Delivery of Distributed Learning, Intellectual Property (IP) and government rights to software should be considered at the outset of any ADL related project. The IP Rights area discusses these requirements in the context of the ADL Registry and SCORM.

Need to know how much DL will cost the program? Managers interested in estimating costs of SCORM and related technology programs will want to review the tools available in the Cost Estimation area.