Should-Cost Management Tactics

Abstract

Experienced acquisition professionals are familiar with the various types and accuracy of program cost estimates. The should-cost concept asks the program manager (PM) to look at these estimates differently. Rather than accepting the estimates as foregone conclusions, the core principle of the BBP should-cost is to ask the PM to adopt a different mindset toward cost estimates. Under BBP, programs must continuously fight to lower costs wherever and whenever that makes sense. While lowering cost is a primary objective, a program should not trade away proven practices just to reduce near-term costs. A PM must retain a long-term view. The right mindset means looking for savings throughout a programs life cycle, not only in development and production, but also during the Operations and Support (O and S) phase. Finally, a should-cost mindset focuses the entire program office team on delivering the required capabilityno more and no lessto the warfighter on time and within budget.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2012
Accession Number
AD1016036

Entities

People

  • John Mueller
  • Mark Husband

Organizations

  • Defense Acquisition University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Business Administration
  • Contracts
  • Cost Estimates
  • Cost Reductions
  • Costs
  • Data Rights
  • Life Cycles
  • Logistics
  • Management Personnel
  • Procurement
  • Production
  • Supply Chain
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Systems Engineering
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Test Equipment

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Economics
  • Systems Analysis and Design