Sergeant York. Concerns About the Army's Accelerated Acquisition Strategy.
Abstract
The Sergeant York's acquisition strategy contained some positive elements but, on the whole, was detrimental to the program. While costs were successfully controlled up to the time the contract was terminated, and the warranty provisions in the contract offered the Army protection against cost increases if modifications were needed to bring the system up to specifications, the desired acceleration in fielding the Sergeant York was not achieved. This was due both to weaknesses in the acquisition strategy and to the technical performance difficulties of the weapon itself. The technical difficulties experienced by the weapon system were not a fault of the acquisition strategy. However, the Sergeant York's tight schedule and the limited operational testing, both of which were critical elements of the strategy, left few opportunities to resolve these difficulties before major production commitments were made. Also, while they were beneficial from a cost control standpoint, the fixed-price production options put more pressure on decisionmakers to proceed on schedule even though they recognized the risks the weapon's technical difficulties posed. Another disadvantage was that because the strategy limited opportunities for testing, it did not give decisionmakers as much information at given points in time as they normally get under more conventional strategies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA169292
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office