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A prototype may even be developed into a reference implementation and provided to a commercial contractor for production. Prototyping to explore and evaluate the feasibility of high-level conceptual designs may be performed early in technology development as part of government activities to assess and increase technology maturity, discover or refine requirements, or develop a preliminary design. In this situation, prototypes are used to examine alternative concepts as part of the analysis of alternatives leading to a preferred solution concept. Prototyping may be used immediately after a decision to pursue a materiel solution to meet an operational need (see Figure 1). The exact form and focus of prototyping is driven by where it is used in the acquisition management system life cycle and the nature of the problem the prototype is intended to address. It is part of the SE's toolkit of techniques for managing uncertainty and complexity and mitigating their effects. This includes exploring alternative concepts, technology maturity assessments, requirements discovery or refinement, design alternative assessments, and performance or suitability issues. Prototyping is a practice in which an early sample or model of a system, capability, or process is built to answer specific questions about, give insight into, or reduce uncertainty or risk in many diverse areas. They are expected to monitor and evaluate contractor CP technical efforts and the acquisition program's overall CP processes and to recommend changes when warranted. They are expected to develop and recommend technical requirements for CP efforts as well as strategies and processes that encourage and facilitate the active participation of end users and other stakeholders in the CP process. MITRE SEs are also expected to understand and recommend when CP is appropriate to a situation. MITRE SE Roles & Expectations: MITRE systems engineers (SEs) are expected to understand the purpose and role of competitive prototyping (CP) in the acquisition process, where it occurs in systems development, and the benefits and risks of employing it. Keywords: competitive prototype program, competitive prototype tests, competitive prototyping strategy, competitive teams, prototyping The competing prototypes are compared, and ultimately the one that best addresses the issue(s), problem(s), or challenge(s) is chosen. Definition: Competitive prototyping is an approach in which two or more competing teams (organizations) develop prototypes during the early stages of a project (acquisition or procurement phase).