U.S. Coast Guard cutter procurement lessons’ impacts on the offshore patrol cutter program affordability
Authors
Philpott, Barton L.
Weber, Matthew G.
Subjects
acquisition management
affordability
coast guard
contract management
contract structure
homeland security
offshore patrol cutter
lessons learned
procurement
program manager
requirement
ship production
source selection
strategy
ship procurement
cutter procurement
affordability
coast guard
contract management
contract structure
homeland security
offshore patrol cutter
lessons learned
procurement
program manager
requirement
ship production
source selection
strategy
ship procurement
cutter procurement
Advisors
Papoulias, Fotis A
Dillard, John T.
Date of Issue
2015-12
Date
Dec-15
Publisher
Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
The U.S. Coast Guard’s upcoming acquisition of the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) offers many opportunities to leverage recent procurement lessons to achieve the program’s affordability requirement of $310 million per hull. We explore the question of how lessons learned from the National Security Cutter (NSC) and Fast Response Cutter (FRC) procurement programs were applied to the OPC acquisition strategy to achieve affordability. We examine procurement lessons addressing management reforms, best practices in competition, contract structure, multiyear procurement, requirements generation, and test and evaluation. We employ a cost estimation model developed by Jeffrey Lineberry and first advanced in his 2012 work Estimating Production Costs While Linking Combat Systems and Ship Design. We validate the Coast Guard’s OPC cost requirement of $310 million per hull using notional design data. We further illustrate the impact that varying specific design characteristics (speed, personnel, and length/beam) have on ship production cost. Finally, we conclude that the U.S. Coast Guard has successfully incorporated lessons from the NSC and FRC procurement programs into the OPC acquisition strategy, and we present a trade-off analysis that program managers may use in future source selection processes.
Type
Thesis
Description
MBA Professional Report
Series/Report No
Department
Graduate School of Business and Public Policy (GSBPP)
Graduate School of Business and Public Policy (GSBPP)
Organization
Department of Defense Management (DDM)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
Copyright is reserved by the copyright owner.