What problem does it solve? Evaluating whether a technology is mature enough to commit to an acquisition program is error-prone: teams over-rate readiness, miss critical technologies, or rely on non-independent assessments. This Skill provides the GAO Technology Readiness Assessment Guide (GAO-20-48G) as an on-demand knowledge base so you can assign defensible TRLs, identify Critical Technology Elements, and judge TRA quality from reconstructed reference notes. ## Core Features & Use Cases - TRL 1-9 Assessment: Apply the environment-keyed Technology Readiness Level scale (laboratory, relevant, operational) plus companion MRL and IRL scales, with guidance on avoiding environment inflation. - CTE Identification & Five-Step Process: Screen technologies with the "new/novel and needed" test derived from the WBS and requirements, then run the five-step TRA process judged against the four reliability characteristics (comprehensive, well-documented, credible, defensible). - Maturation Planning & Milestone Decisions: Build Technology Maturation Plans with off-ramps for immature CTEs and apply TRL 6/7 thresholds to knowledge-based milestone decisions. - Use Case: A program manager asks whether a sensor prototype demonstrated only in a lab is ready for product development; the Skill explains it is at most TRL 4, identifies it as a CTE, and outlines the TMP needed to reach TRL 7 before commitment. ## Quick Start Ask the agent to use the gao-tra skill to explain what TRL applies to a component validated only in a laboratory environment and whether it is ready for product development.
