Accelerating the Decision Process in Major System Acquisition

Abstract

The objective of this study was to ascertain how the management review process incident to DSARC milestone decisions affects the length of major system acquisitions and to determine what changes, if any, are needed in this process to accelerate major system acquisitions. Of the 13 programs reviewed during this study, only 2 were adversely affected by the DSARC management review process. In both cases the impact was minor and attributable to delays in issuing the actual SecDef decision or inability to schedule one of the DSARC principals. It was found that the management review process tends to parallel the technical development of the system and its length is a function of the chain of command within the reviewing organization. It was concluded that the DSARC management review process does not have a significant impact on the length of the major system acquisition cycle and hence, recommendations on specific steps or aspects of this process are not warranted. It was suggested that further examination into areas such as funding problems, testing requirements and concurrency may prove useful in shortening the acquisition cycle.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1979
Accession Number
ADA078326

Entities

People

  • Carl M. Skinner
  • John A. Becka
  • Robert K. Wood
  • William G. Moeller

Organizations

  • LMI

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Civilian Personnel
  • Contracts
  • Department Of Defense
  • Engineering
  • Executives
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • Logistics
  • Logistics Management
  • Multithreading
  • Personnel Management
  • Procurement
  • Program Management
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Weapon Systems

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management