Defense Science Board, Report of the Task Force on Reducing Costs of Defense Systems Acquisition. 'Design-to-Cost, Commercial Practice vs. Department of Defense Practice'

Abstract

The commercial approach of managing the design, development, production, and life support of a product to meet the marketplace value to the user -- independent of estimated cost -- is applicable to DoD procurement. A part of this general approach has been designated by DoD as Design to Cost. But Design to Cost is the integrating element of the larger process, and cannot be implemented as an isolated management technique or control system. The report outlines and recommends a few key techniques based upon successful commercial practice, that should find useful application to almost all DoD programs. A comprehensive management approach is necessary for their effectiveness. The strong inference is that a major change in DoD management of defense systems is required. The principal decision areas of a commercial product program may be categorized as: Requirements and cost estimates; trade-offs; and resource allocation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 15, 1973
Accession Number
AD0762487

Entities

Organizations

  • Office of the Director

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Competition
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Cost Estimates
  • Cost Reductions
  • Costs
  • Defense Industry
  • Defense Systems
  • Department Of Defense
  • Governments
  • Procurement
  • Program Management
  • Standards
  • Systems Engineering
  • Task Forces
  • Test And Evaluation

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - DoD AI Strategy