The management challenge of this project has been emphasized by many and is discussed in detail on the page describing the Program Office (PO). It is clear that a management organization must be in place and fully operational before significant effort is made on the overall project.

Therefore, the short-term plan is to first build the central core of the PO, called the Central Office (CO).The CO will start as a relatively small organization requiring small levels of funding. The CO will develop a powerful management staff, appropriate policies and procedures (including contractual Terms and Conditions for the full development program) and a set of computer software "tools" essential for the management of the program.

The CO will use its management tools to conduct various trade studies early in the program to quantitatively define the future management tasks, the needed disciplines from the team members, etc. These studies will also provide important data justifying the program for use in its future promotion.

More detailed plans for the actual project have been prepared and are summarized in the table to the right.