A review of what constitutes an evolving open system environment for the U.S. Government as recommended by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the Application Portability Profile (APP) and by Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) in the Technical Reference Model for Information Management is presented. Its applicability as technical guidance to DoD components for the acquisition, development, and support of Department of Defense (DoD) training systems and simulations is described. The choices or recommendations made to implement some of these standards on an actual Army project is discussed. The project is concerned with the implementation of a simulation interface system for the Army War College.