Defense Acquisitions Better Weapon Program Outcomes Require Discipline Accountability And Fundamental Changes In The Acquisition Environment

Author : Katherine V. Schinasi
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1437906311
Total Pages : 21 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Defense Acquisitions: Better Weapon Program Outcomes Require Discipline, Accountability, and Fundamental Changes in the Acquisition Environment written by Katherine V. Schinasi and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2009-02 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 1990, the DoD mgmt. of major weapon system acquisitions has been designated a high-risk area. DoD has taken some action to improve acquisition outcomes, but its weapons programs continue to take longer, cost more, and deliver fewer capabilities than originally planned. Over the next 5 years, DoD plans to invest about $900 billion to develop and procure weapons systems -- the highest level of investment in two decades. This testimony describes DoD¿s current weapons system investment portfolio, the problems that contribute to cost and schedule increases, and the potential impacts of recent legislative initiatives and DoD actions aimed at improving outcomes. Charts and tables.

Author : United States Government Accountability Office
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781719272025
Total Pages : 36 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Defense Acquisitions written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-05-18 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defense Acquisitions: Better Weapon Program Outcomes Require Discipline, Accountability, and Fundamental Changes in the Acquisition Environment

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 22 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Defense Acquisitions. Better Weapon Program Outcomes Require Discipline, Accountability, and Fundamental Changes in the Acquisition Environment written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since fiscal year 2000, DOD significantly increased the number of major defense acquisition programs and its overall investment in them. During this same time period, acquisition outcomes have not improved. Based on our analysis, total acquisition costs for the fiscal year 2007 portfolio of major defense acquisition programs increased 26 percent and development costs increased by 40 percent from first estimates both of which are higher than the corresponding increases in DOD s fiscal year 2000 portfolio. In most cases, the programs we assessed failed to deliver capabilities when promised often forcing warfighters to spend additional funds on maintaining legacy systems. Our analysis shows that current programs are experiencing, on average, a 21-month delay in delivering initial capabilities to the warfighter, a 5-month increase over fiscal year 2000 programs. Several underlying systemic problems at the strategic level and at the program level continue to contribute to poor weapon system program outcomes. At the strategic level, DOD does not prioritize weapon system investments and the department s processes for matching warfighter needs with resources are fragmented and broken. Furthermore, the requirements and acquisition processes are not agile enough to support programs that can meet current operational requirements. At the program level, programs are started without knowing what resources will truly be needed and are managed with lower levels of product knowledge at critical junctures than expected under best practices standards. In the absence of such knowledge, managers rely heavily on assumptions about system requirements, technology, and design maturity, which are consistently too optimistic. This exposes programs to significant and unnecessary technology, design, and production risks, and ultimately damaging cost growth and schedule delays.

Author : Katherine V. Schinasi
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 17 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Defense acquisitions written by Katherine V. Schinasi and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Michael J. Sullivan
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1437914411
Total Pages : 19 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Defense Acquisitions: DoD Must Prioritize Its Weapon System Acquisitions and Balance Them with Available Resources written by Michael J. Sullivan and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since FY 2000, the DoD has significantly increased the number of major defense acquisition programs and its overall investment in them. However, acquisition outcomes have not improved. In most cases, the programs failed to deliver capabilities when promised -- often forcing warfighters to spend additional funds on maintaining legacy systems. This testimony describes the systemic problems that have contributed to poor cost and schedule outcomes in DoD¿s acquisition of major weapon systems; recent actions DoD has taken to address these problems; and steps that Congress and DoD need to take to improve the future performance of DoD¿s major weapon programs. Illustrations.

Author : Michael J. Sullivan
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1437915183
Total Pages : 25 pages
Book Rating : 4.81/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Defense Acquisitions: DoD Must Balance Its Needs with Available Resources and Follow an Incremental Approach to Acquiring Weapon Systems written by Michael J. Sullivan and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2009-08 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A broad consensus exists that weapon system problems are serious, but efforts at reform have had limited impact. Last year, it was reported that DoD's portfolio of weapon programs experienced cost growth of $295 billion from first estimates, were delayed by an average of 21 months, and delivered fewer quantities and capabilities to the war-fighter than originally planned. This testimony describes the systemic problems that contribute to the cost, schedule, and performance problems in weapon system programs, recent actions that DoD has taken to address these problems, proposed reform legislation that has recently been introduced, and additional steps needed to improve future performance of acquisition programs. Charts and tables.

Author : Michael J. Sullivan
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1437933173
Total Pages : 49 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Defense Acquisitions written by Michael J. Sullivan and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-09 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For several decades, Congress and the DoD have explored ways to improve the acquisition of major weapon systems, yet program outcomes and their underlying causes have proven resistant to change. Last year, the cumulative cost growth in DoD's portfolio of major programs was $296 billion. The opportunity to achieve meaningful improvements may now be at hand with the recent intro. of major reforms to the acquisition process. This report focuses on: (1) identifying weapon programs that are achieving good outcomes; (2) the factors that enable some programs to succeed; and (3) lessons to be learned from these programs to guide implementation of recent reforms. This report conducted case study reviews of five programs. Charts and tables.

Author :
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1428935258
Total Pages : 139 pages
Book Rating : 4.59/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Defense acquisitions assessments of major weapon programs : report to Congressional committees. written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : United States. Government Accountability Office
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Defense Acquisitions written by United States. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is GAO's sixth annual assessment of selected weapon programs. Since 2000, the Department of Defense (DOD) has roughly doubled its planned investment in new systems from $790 billion to $1.6 trillion in 2007, but acquisition outcomes in terms of cost and schedule have not improved. Total acquisition costs for major defense programs in the fiscal year 2007 portfolio have increased 26 percent from first estimates, compared with 6 percent in 2000. Programs have also often failed to deliver capabilities when promised. DOD's acquisition outcomes appear increasingly suboptimal, a condition that needs to be corrected given the pressures faced by the department from other military and major nondiscretionary government demands. This report provides congressional and DOD decision makers with an independent, knowledge-based assessment of defense programs, identifying potential risks when a program's projected attainment of knowledge diverges from best practices. The programs assessed--most of which are considered major acquisitions by DOD--were selected using several factors: high dollar value, acquisition stage, and congressional interest. This report also highlights overall trends in DOD acquisition outcomes and issues raised by the cumulative experience of individual programs. GAO updates this report annually under the Comptroller General's authority to conduct evaluations on his own initiative. Of the 72 programs GAO assessed this year, none of them had proceeded through system development meeting the best practices standards for mature technologies, stable design, or mature production processes by critical junctures of the program, each of which are essential for achieving planned cost, schedule, and performance outcomes. The absence of wide-spread adoption of knowledge-based acquisition processes by DOD continues to be a major contributor to this lack of maturity. Aside from these knowledge-based issues, GAO this year gathered data on four additional factors that have the potential to influence DOD's ability to manage programs and improve outcomes--performance requirements changes, program manager tenure, reliance on nongovernmental personnel to help perform program office roles, and software management. GAO found that 63 percent of the programs had changed requirements once system development began, and also experienced significant program cost increases. Average tenure to date for program managers has been less than half of that called for by DOD policy. About 48 percent of DOD program office staff for programs GAO collected data from is composed of personnel outside of the government. Finally, roughly half the programs that provided GAO data experienced more than a 25 percent increase in the expected lines of software code since starting their respective system development programs. In response to previous GAO recommendations and congressional direction, DOD has recently taken actions that could help move the department toward more sound, knowledge-based acquisition processes. For example, a new concept decision review initiative, guidance for determining acquisition approaches based on capability need dates, and the establishment of review boards to monitor weapon system configuration changes could enable department officials to make more informed decisions in the early stages of a program and better match program requirements and resources, a key first step. Improvements to individual program acquisition outcomes will likely hinge on the success of initiatives like these, paired with knowledge-based strategies.

Author : Michael J. Sullivan
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1437914748
Total Pages : 22 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Defense Acquisitions: Measuring the Value of DoD¿s Weapon Programs Requires Starting with Realistic Baselines written by Michael J. Sullivan and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-10 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2006, the cumulative cost growth in DoD¿s portfolio of 96 major defense acquisition programs was $296 billion and the average delay in delivering promised capabilities to the warfighter was 22 months. These are very poor outcomes. The auditor has used metrics to review the mgmt. and health of these programs from within the framework of best practices. This testimony discusses: (1) ¿knowledge metrics,¿ used to determine how well programs manage tech., design, and manufacturing risks; (2) outcome metrics -- concerning cost, schedule, and capability -- that serve as ¿health indicators¿ of how well programs are being executed in terms of predicted outcomes; and (3) the prerequisites that must be met in order for a program¿s plans and goals to be realistic.