Data requirements for availability based sparing the U.S. Marine Corps

Abstract

Availability based sparing was prescribed for use in all the military services by the DoD in 1985. Since then, the Army, Navy, and Air Force have all implemented, in varying degrees, availability based models; however, the Marine Corps has made little progress. Recent studies by the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) suggest that the Marine Corps has a difficult road ahead as it seeks to implement such models. Among the most demanding challenges identified are the requirements for more detailed and accurate data. While the CNA studies examined a full-scale implementation of availability based sparing, we argue that the Marine Corps can, and indeed should implement such models on a limited scale with data from current information systems. Because availability based sparing models have different data requirements than the Marine Corps demand configured supply (SASSY) and maintenance (MIMMS) logistical information systems, we recommend changes to these systems in order to implement a full-scale availability based model.