The Acquisition Handbook

Acceptance and ISDendorse. Thereafter, Acceptance is reviewed and authorised at two formal, closely related stages:• System Acceptance assesses whether the system acquired by the IPT satisfies theSRD and, thereby, the URD. Where full satisfaction is not provided but the AcceptanceAuthority is prepared to allow initial issue to the Second Customer, Limited SystemAcceptance may be granted with the provisos being lifted as they are progressivelysatisfied.• In-Service Date (ISD) is declared when the military capability provided by the system isassessed as available for operational use.ISD should normally closely follow System Acceptance. However, the consideration of twodistinct stages of acceptance recognises that the IPT Leader does not have authority over allelements contributing to operational availability. It does not, however, remove from the IPTLeader the responsibility for ensuring the successful integration and development of all elementsof the system into an operational capability.In circumstances where insufficient evidence is available to seek either limited or full systemacceptance, but beneficial military capability would be provided if the system were operating inservice, the Acceptance Authority may grant Initial Acceptance. This can be time limited andspecial support arrangements may be needed.Progressive AcceptanceSystem?User and System Requirement(including acceptance criteria)Initial AcceptanceWhere Service use requiredbefore System Acceptanceis achievableDesign Certificationagreed by IPTLSystem Acceptanceof sample production systemagainst SRD reviewed by DECIn-Service Dateof usable quantity integrated with allessential supporting elements18