Stage-gate model for new product development (NPD) and for any research and development (R&D) project consists of a series of stages and gates; each stage is a set of research activities and gates are milestones at which decisions are made based on predetermined criteria. In this paper we developed a capital budgeting model for a typical 5-stage, 5-gate process to be used for appraising commercial viability of the NPD at Stage 2 which will serve as one of the decision making criterion at Gate 3. Because in an NPD project, completion costs (capital investments), completion times, and future cash flows are uncertain, we developed the Pert-Beta probability distribution to encounter for the randomness of these variables. Furthermore, we suggested the model can be applied to real case NPD projects with the Monte Carlo Simulation approach. We then verified the workability of the model by applying it to a notional NPD project and demonstrated that all decision variables reach steady state in the Monte Carlo Simulation calculations.

Technology transition and implementation is a major challenge for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The DoD utilizes the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) to measure technological maturity of projects for transition to the acquisition phase. However, the TRL is just a technology maturity metric and does not consider other factors, such as the project's costs benefits and risks rewards, that the acquisition community needs to consider in implementing a project; and this has led to delayed acquisition of projects with high TRL. Rapid technology transition requires additional metrics to supplement TRLs. The focus of this paper was on a critical review of methodologies developed for DoD's technology transition process. The literature review examined major empirical studies that have evaluated DoD's technology transition outcomes to identify main bottlenecks and shortcomings. We conclude that DoD's technology transition and acquisition needs improvement in measure of effectiveness.