Improving Acquisitions In Science And Technology Programs: Creating Unique Cost Factors To Improve Resource Allocation Decisions
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Authors
Ritschel, Jonathan D.
Plack, Eric A.
Edwards, Jordan S.
White, Edward D.
Koschnick, Clay M.
Drylie, Scott T.
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2021-08
Date
08/25/21
Publisher
Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
Cost factors are a common technique employed in Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP) cost estimating. The extant suite of available factors, however, primarily consists of development factors from the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase of the life cycle. This study expands the set of factors available to analysts by producing cost factors germane to programs early in the life cycle (i.e. Science and Technology (S&T) programs) and also creates factors for the Production phase of the life cycle. Cost factor development in S&T programs provides unique challenges due to non-standard reporting requirements. To meet these challenges, this study first mapped S&T cost data to create a new, suggested Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) that mirrors the WBS structure utilized in MDAPs via Mil-Std-881. From this, it was determined that two cost factors commonly utilized in MDAP estimates, Systems Engineering/Program Management (SE/PM) and Systems Test and Evaluation (ST&E) could be derived for the S&T programs. The creation of factors for the production phase of the life cycle resulted in 1033 new cost factors from a multitude of diverse programs. Factors were developed by commodity type (aircraft, missile, UAV, space, and ship), contract type (various), contractor type (prime and sub), and Service (Air Force, Army, and Navy). Combining the results of the previous EMD factors developed (Markman et al., 2019) with the two new phases developed here (S&T; Production) results in a robust cost factor toolkit across the acquisition life cycle spectrum.
Type
Technical Report
Description
Acquisition Research Program Sponsored Report Series
Sponsored Acquisition Research & Technical Reports
Sponsored Acquisition Research & Technical Reports
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
AFIT-CE-21-230.pdf
Sponsors
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Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.