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Author: Paul G. Hough
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 84
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Book Description
Cost growth is a highly visible phenomenon in the procurement of major weapon systems. In general, cost growth is the ratio of a weapon system's current estimate of cost to that of some earlier estimate. Thus, even given the same current estimate, different measures of cost growth are possible, depending on which prior estimate is selected as the baseline. Most studies of cost growth, however, select the cost estimate made at the time of program entry into full-scale development (the development estimate) as the baseline. Both the current estimate and the development estimate are normally taken from the Selected Acquisition Report (SAR), a legally mandated summary report on the status of major acquisition programs. This Note identifies and explains the type of cost data found in the SAR and reviews the history of the SAR with respect to cost reporting. In spite of changes that have improved the quality and comprehensiveness of the data in the SAR, it still presents difficulties for measuring cost growth. Among the most notable problems are failure of some programs to use a consistent baseline cost estimate, exclusion of some significant elements of cost, exclusion of certain classes of major programs, and constantly changing preparation guidelines. Nevertheless, the author concludes that SAR data are suitable for identifying broad-based trends and temporal patterns across a range of programs.
Author: Paul G. Hough
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 84
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Book Description
Cost growth is a highly visible phenomenon in the procurement of major weapon systems. In general, cost growth is the ratio of a weapon system's current estimate of cost to that of some earlier estimate. Thus, even given the same current estimate, different measures of cost growth are possible, depending on which prior estimate is selected as the baseline. Most studies of cost growth, however, select the cost estimate made at the time of program entry into full-scale development (the development estimate) as the baseline. Both the current estimate and the development estimate are normally taken from the Selected Acquisition Report (SAR), a legally mandated summary report on the status of major acquisition programs. This Note identifies and explains the type of cost data found in the SAR and reviews the history of the SAR with respect to cost reporting. In spite of changes that have improved the quality and comprehensiveness of the data in the SAR, it still presents difficulties for measuring cost growth. Among the most notable problems are failure of some programs to use a consistent baseline cost estimate, exclusion of some significant elements of cost, exclusion of certain classes of major programs, and constantly changing preparation guidelines. Nevertheless, the author concludes that SAR data are suitable for identifying broad-based trends and temporal patterns across a range of programs.
Author: Obaid Younossi
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833041355
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 142
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Book Description
In recent decades, there have been numerous attempts to rein in the cost growth of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition programs. Cost growth is the ratio of the cost estimate reported in a program's final Selected Acquisition Report (SAR) and the cost-estimate baseline reported in a prior SAR issued at a particular milestone. Drawing on prior RAND research, new analyses of completed and ongoing weapon system programs, and data drawn from SARs, this study addresses the following questions: What is the cost growth of DoD weapon systems? What has been the trend of cost growth over the past three decades? To address the magnitude of cost growth, it examines cost growth in completed programs; to evaluate the cost growth trend over time, it provides additional analysis of a selection of ongoing programs. This sample of ongoing programs permits a look at growth trends in the more recent past. Changes in the mix of system types over time and dollar-weighted analysis were also considered because earlier studies have suggested that cost growth varies by program type and the cost of the program. The findings suggest that development cost growth over the past three decades has remained high and without any significant improvement.
Author: Joseph George Bolten
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833042890
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 117
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Book Description
Previous studies have shown that the Department of Defense (DoD) and the military departments have historically underestimated the cost of new weapon systems. Quantifying cost growth is important, but the larger issue is why cost growth occurs. To address that issue, this analysis uses data from Selected Acquisition Reports to examine 35 mature, but not necessarily complete, major defense acquisition programs similar to the type and complexity of those typically managed by the Air Force. The programs are first examined as a complete set, then Air Force and non-Air Force programs are analyzed separately to determine whether the causes of cost growth in the two groups differ. Four major sources of cost growth were identified: (1) errors in estimation and scheduling, (2) decisions made by the government, (3) financial matters, and (4) miscellaneous sources. Total (development plus procurement) cost growth, when measured as simple averages among the program set, is dominated by decisions, which account for more than two-thirds of the growth. Most decisions-related cost growth involves quantity changes (22 percent), requirements growth (13 percent), and schedule changes (9 percent). Cost estimation (10 percent) is the only large contributor in the errors category. Less than 4 percent of the overall cost growth is due to financial and miscellaneous causes. Because decisions involving changes in requirements, quantities, and production schedules dominate cost growth, program managers, service leadership, and Congress should look for ways to reduce changes in these areas.
Author: United States. General Accounting Office
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 28
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Book Description
Author: Nayantara Hensel
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317036158
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 339
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Book Description
The US and international defense industrial sectors have faced many challenges over the last twenty years, including cycles of growth and shrinkage in defense budgets, shifts in strategic defense priorities, and macroeconomic volatility. In the current environment, the defense sector faces a combination of these challenges and must struggle with the need to maintain critical aspects of the defense industrial base as defense priorities change and as defense budgets reduce or plateau. Moreover, the defense sector in the US is interconnected both with defense sectors in other countries and with other industry sectors in the US and global economies. As a result, strategic decisions made in one defense sector impact the defense sectors of other countries, as well as other areas of the economy. Given her academic, corporate, and Department of Defense experience as a leading economist and policy-maker, Dr. Nayantara Hensel is perfectly positioned to examine the interrelationship between these forces both historically and in the current environment, and to assess the implications for the future global defense industrial base.
Author: Rhys McCormick
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538140225
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 70
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Book Description
With the advent of the information age, both commercial industry and the Department of Defense are moving towards complex R&D-intensive systems over the simpler, mass-produced systems of the industrial age. This CSIS report analyzes the historical trends in the relationship of production costs to development costs in complex acquisition programs. To understand this phenomenon, the study team examines it at two different levels. The first is the macro investment level where portfolio management trade-offs are made between aggregate development and procurement and between programs. The second level is individual programs where the ambitions of the program and the underlying technology shape the resources required for a program to complete development.
Author:
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 083303863X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204
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Book Description
This report is one of a series from a RAND Project AIR FORCE project, "The Cost of Future Military Aircraft: Historical Cost Estimating Relationships and Cost Reduction Initiatives."
Author: David Kassing
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833041770
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 111
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Book Description
This study looked at how funding instability affects Army acquisition programs. Most funding instability was found to stem from events external to the Army or ambitious Army-set technical goals. Funding instability's effects took the form of schedule slips, cost increases, and to a lesser degree, technical compromises. No significant association was found between funding instability and the adverse effects of program cost growth and schedule slippage.
Author: Joseph Soeters
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136203311
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 357
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Book Description
This volume offers an overview of the methodologies of research in the field of military studies. As an institution relying on individuals and resources provided by society, the military has been studied by scholars from a wide range of disciplines: political science, sociology, history, psychology, anthropology, economics and administrative studies. The methodological approaches in these disciplines vary from computational modelling of conflicts and surveys of military performance, to the qualitative study of military stories from the battlefield and veterans experiences. Rapidly developing technological facilities (more powerful hardware, more sophisticated software, digitalization of documents and pictures) render the methodologies in use more dynamic than ever. The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in Military Studies offers a comprehensive and dynamic overview of these developments as they emerge in the many approaches to military studies. The chapters in this Handbook are divided over four parts: starting research, qualitative methods, quantitative methods, and finalizing a study, and every chapter starts with the description of a well-published study illustrating the methodological issues that will be dealt with in that particular chapter. Hence, this Handbook not only provides methodological know-how, but also offers a useful overview of military studies from a variety of research perspectives. This Handbook will be of much interest to students of military studies, security and war studies, civil-military relations, military sociology, political science and research methods in general.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cost accounting
Languages : en
Pages : 222
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