The Use of Baselining in Acquisition Program Management,

Abstract

All major weapon system programs establish a program baseline early in the acquisition cycle which sets forth cost, schedule, and performance targets for the program. If the thresholds are exceeded, a review and assessment procedure is initiated in an attempt to understand why the threshold was "breached" and how the program can be brought back on track. Most programs experience events that require changes to their baselines at some point in their life-cycles. The baselining process can be a useful management tool for acquisition managers by providing metrics for measuring program status and a process for responding to deviations from the plan. The overall goal of the research reported here is to enhance the usefulness of the acquisition program baselining (APB) process as a management tool for acquisition decisionmakers. This report documents the results of both Phase 1 and Phase 2 research efforts. It should interest analysts and government officials concerned with the defense acquisition process.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA331783

Entities

People

  • Jeffrey A. Drezner
  • Richard A. Krop

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Base Lines
  • Commerce
  • Contracts
  • Department Of Defense
  • Engineering
  • Governments
  • Life Cycles
  • Military Acquisition
  • National Security
  • Procurement
  • Program Management
  • Spreadsheet Software
  • Standards
  • System Software
  • Test And Evaluation

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management