Assuring Certifiability of Outsourced Software Development — a DER's Perspective

RTCA/DO-178B is a set of considerations or guidelines for the assurance of software in the certification of an aircraft and its systems. The document contains a set of  objectives that need to be met and a description of the associated objective evidence required to show that they have been satisfied. The risks associated with attempting and subsequently failing in the certification process can be enormous, and naturally this drives cost and schedule on a given program.