Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints on Department of Defense Acquisition

Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints on Department of Defense Acquisition PDF

Author: Jeffrey A. Drezner

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 0833041762

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Managers of weapon system acquisition programs and their staffs have often voiced concerns about the burden of complying with federal statutes or regulations requiring certain business and oversight processes. The essence of the concerns is that program offices spend an inordinate amount of time complying with statutes and regulations that add little value, and that the regulatory burden translates into cost increases, schedule delays, and adverse effects on system performance. While many other studies have addressed this topic, few have succeeded in generating the empirical evidence needed to inform the policy debate. To fill this gap, NDRI developed a Web-based data collection tool to capture the program staff's estimates of hours spent on compliance efforts. A total of 316 individuals in seven DoD program offices were recruited to use the web tool to estimate biweekly the time they spent on regulatory compliance-related activities over the course of a year. While statutes and regulations do place constraints on program execution, the study found that program office staffs do not appear to spend a significant amount of their time complying with those statutes and regulations. Further, there is little evidence that program office compliance activities have adverse consequences for program outcomes.

Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints on DoD Acquisition: Research Design for an Empirical Study

Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints on DoD Acquisition: Research Design for an Empirical Study PDF

Author: Jeffrey A. Drezner

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 143

ISBN-13: 0833039679

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The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics asked RAND to evaluate the cost of compliance with acquisition-related statutes and regulations at the program office level. This report identifies the areas considered most burdensome and describes the study's methodology, focus, and data collection process, including the development of a Web-based data collection tool for use by program office personnel.

Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints on Department of Defense Acquisition. An Empirical Analysis

Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints on Department of Defense Acquisition. An Empirical Analysis PDF

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 106

ISBN-13:

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Improving the defense acquisition process has been a recurring theme for several decades. Acquisition process reforms often require changes in the body of statutes and regulations governing the acquisition process. Prior research has observed a regulatory pendulum in which statutes and regulations seem to move back and forth from relative flexibility to relative rigidity in response to perceived problems in the acquisition process generally, or in specific weapon system programs. Increased flexibility enables program managers to tailor their program's acquisition strategy to the unique features of its environment and to reduce the costs of oversight. Rigidity in statutes and regulations mandates specific management approaches and oversight procedures.

Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints on DoD Acquisition: Research Design for an Empirical Study

Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints on DoD Acquisition: Research Design for an Empirical Study PDF

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Over the past two decades, multiple studies have attempted to estimate the cost to major weapon system programs of complying with acquisition-related statutes and regulations. Most studies investigated the cost of compliance only at the contractor level, though program offices, the Services, and OSD would also incur such costs. A majority of these studies defined compliance cost as the additional cost of doing business with DoD. Despite substantial research in this area, few studies based their findings on actual, measured costs. Instead, most based their results on anecdote rather than the systematic collection of empirical data. Compliance with statutes and regulations is imbedded in the working culture of the DoD organization. Personnel are taught to comply during their acquisition training, and they do not know another way of doing business. A two-star Program Executive Officer described the acquisition system as a sandbox that he knows and understands, and opined that it was not in his interest to spend what little time he had to manage his programs fighting to lower the height of the walls of that sandbox, even if that would make his and his staff's jobs easier. The high degree to which compliance is institutionalized in a culture and in a set of processes creates an inherent difficulty in quantifying the cost of that compliance. This research focuses on costs at the government program office level, primarily because it is program managers and their staff who complain that compliance with some statutes or regulations is burdensome, and that burden translates into adverse outcomes in terms of cost, schedule, and performance. One way of capturing actual costs at the government program office level is to track the actual labor hours spent by program office staff complying with a certain statute or regulation. Linking these compliance activities to program deliverables that are in the critical path shows their effect on cost and schedule outcomes.

Introduction to Defense Acquisition Management

Introduction to Defense Acquisition Management PDF

Author:

Publisher: Defense Acquisition University

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 76

ISBN-13:

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"This ninth edition of Introduction to Defense Acquisition Management includes revisions to the regulatory framework for Defense systems acquisition management from the December 2008 Department of Defense Instruction 5000.02 and includes policy for determining requirements for defense systems from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 3170 series, Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System. This publication is designed to be both an introduction to the world of defense systems acquisition management for the newcomer and a summary-level refresher for the practitioner who has been away from the business for a few years. It focuses on Department of Defense-wide management policies and procedures, not on the details of any specific defense system."--Publisher's website.

Defense Acquisition Guidebook Volume 1: Chapters 1-7 November 2012

Defense Acquisition Guidebook Volume 1: Chapters 1-7 November 2012 PDF

Author: United States Government Defense Acquisition University

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2012-12-16

Total Pages: 688

ISBN-13: 9781481271240

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This is Volume 1 of the November 2012 version of the Defense Acquisition Guidebook. It contains chapters 1 through 7.The Defense Acquisition Guidebook is designed to complement policy documents by providing the acquisition workforce with discretionary best practice that should be tailored to the needs of each program. Acquisition professionals should use this Guidebook as a reference source supporting their management responsibilities. Depending on the subject matter, a chapter may contain general background information, tutorial discussions, and/or discussions of the detailed requirements for each milestone decision and phase. All chapters contain non-mandatory staff expectations for satisfying the mandatory requirements in DoD Instruction 5000.02 Each chapter is designed to improve understanding of the acquisition process and ensure adequate knowledge of the statutory and regulatory requirements associated with the process. Discussions, explanations, and links to related information enable the reader to be efficient, effective, innovative, and disciplined, and to responsively provide warfighting capability. Each chapter lists potential ways the program manager or assigned manager can satisfy mandatory process requirements and meet staff expectations for other activities. Differences of view regarding discretionary practice will be resolved by the Milestone Decision Authority. Chapter 1, Department of Defense Decision Support Systems, presents an overview of the Defense Department's decision support systems for strategic planning and resource allocation, the determination of capability needs, and the acquisition of systems.Chapter 2, Program Strategies, provides information and guidance needed to develop a Technology Development Strategy and to develop and maintain a program-level Acquisition Strategy. Chapter 3, Affordability and Life-cycle Resource Estimates, addresses acquisition program affordability and resource estimation and describes the concept of program life-cycle cost and the processes for conducting Analysis of Alternatives. The chapter discusses specific milestone review procedures, expectations, and best practices for a variety of topics related to acquisition program affordability, cost, and manpower. The chapter further describes the role of both DoD Component cost estimates and independent cost estimates in support of the DoD acquisition system. Chapter 4, Systems Engineering , outlines DoD guidance on systems engineering, and explains expectations for completing the Systems Engineering Plan (SEP). The chapter describes standard systems engineering processes and how they apply to the DoD acquisition system. It addresses the systems engineering principles that a program manager should apply to achieve a balanced system solution. Chapter 5, Life-cycle Logistics , provides the associated guidance the Program Manager (PM), Product Support Manager (PSM), and Life-Cycle Logisticians can use in influencing the design and providing effective product support. Chapter 6, Human Systems Integration , addresses the human systems elements of the systems engineering process. It will help the program manager design and develop systems that effectively and affordably integrate with human capabilities and limitations; and it makes the program manager aware of the staff resources available to assist in this endeavor. Chapter 7, Acquiring Information Technology, Including National Security Systems , explains how the Department of Defense complies with statutory and regulatory requirements for acquiring Information Technology and National Security Systems and in using a network-centric strategy to transform DoD warfighting, business, and intelligence capabilities. The chapter also provides descriptions and explanations of the Clinger-Cohen Act and many other associated topics and concepts, and discusses many of the activities that enable the development of net-centric systems.

Tailoring the Acquisition Process in the U.S Department of Defense

Tailoring the Acquisition Process in the U.S Department of Defense PDF

Author: Megan McKernan

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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"Regulations and guidance have permitted tailoring of the acquisition process as one of many ways in which the acquisition workforce can more efficiently achieve program objectives. Tailoring is frequently mentioned in regulations and guidance. Policy allows, and even encourages, program managers to customize regulation-based reviews, processes, and information requirements to accommodate the unique characteristics of a program while still meeting the regulations' intent for appropriate decision criteria and oversight processes. The extent to which programs take advantage of opportunities to tailor processes and documentation is not clear, but anecdotal evidence suggests that tailoring is more difficult in practice than guidance suggests. Widespread use of tailoring appears to be constrained by a variety of factors inherent in defense acquisition. The exploratory research reported here reviewed the literature and conducted interviews within the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the RAND Corporation to determine whether this policy area would benefit from additional in-depth research."--Back cover.

Strategies for Acquisition Agility

Strategies for Acquisition Agility PDF

Author: Philip S. Anton

Publisher:

Published: 2020-08-27

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 9781977404367

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The authors analyze various approaches to speed acquisition of military capabilities and keep pace with evolving threats, assess these approaches' suitability for different conditions and acquisition types, and identify implementation issues.

Defense Acquisition Guidebook

Defense Acquisition Guidebook PDF

Author: United States Government Us Army

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2014-06-08

Total Pages: 716

ISBN-13: 9781500125356

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The Defense Acquisition System exists to manage the Nation's investments in technologies, programs, and product support necessary to achieve the National Security Strategy and support the United States Armed Forces. In that context, our objective is to acquire quality products that satisfy user needs with measurable improvements to mission capability at a fair and reasonable price. The fundamental principles and procedures that the Department follows in achieving those objectives are described in DoD Directive 5000.01 and DoD Instruction 5000.02 . This Defense Acquisition Guidebook is designed to complement those policy documents by providing the acquisition workforce with discretionary best practice that should be tailored to the needs of each program. Each chapter is designed to improve understanding of the acquisition process and ensure adequate knowledge of the statutory and regulatory requirements associated with the process. Discussions, explanations, and related information enable the reader to be efficient, effective, innovative, and disciplined, and to responsively provide warfighting capability. Each chapter lists potential ways the program manager or assigned manager can satisfy mandatory process requirements and meet staff expectations for other activities. Differences of view regarding discretionary practice will be resolved by the Milestone Decision Authority. Chapter 1, Department of Defense Decision Support Systems , presents an overview of the Defense Department's decision support systems for strategic planning and resource allocation, the determination of capability needs, and the acquisition of systems. Chapter 2, Program Strategies , provides information and guidance needed to develop a Technology Development Strategy and to develop and maintain a program-level Acquisition Strategy. Chapter 3, Affordability and Life-cycle Resource Estimates , addresses acquisition program affordability and resource estimation and describes the concept of program life-cycle cost and the processes for conducting Analysis of Alternatives. The chapter discusses specific milestone review procedures, expectations, and best practices for a variety of topics related to acquisition program affordability, cost, and manpower. The chapter further describes the role of both DoD Component cost estimates and independent cost estimates in support of the DoD acquisition system. Chapter 4, Systems Engineering , outlines DoD guidance on systems engineering, and explains expectations for completing the Systems Engineering Plan (SEP). The chapter describes standard systems engineering processes and how they apply to the DoD acquisition system. It addresses the systems engineering principles that a program manager should apply to achieve a balanced system solution. Chapter 5, Life-cycle Logistics , provides the associated guidance the Program Manager (PM), Product Support Manager (PSM), and Life-Cycle Logisticians can use in influencing the design and providing effective product support. Chapter 6, Human Systems Integration , addresses the human systems elements of the systems engineering process. It will help the program manager design and develop systems that effectively and affordably integrate with human capabilities and limitations; and it makes the program manager aware of the staff resources available to assist in this endeavor. Chapter 7, Acquiring Information Technology, Including National Security Systems , explains how the Department of Defense complies with statutory and regulatory requirements for acquiring Information Technology and National Security Systems and in using a network-centric strategy to transform DoD warfighting, business, and intelligence capabilities. The chapter also provides descriptions and explanations of the Clinger-Cohen Act and many other associated topics and concepts, and discusses many of the activities that enable the development of net-centric systems.