Best Practices. Increased Focus on Requirements and Oversight Needed to Improve DOD's Acquisition Environment and Weapon System Quality

Abstract

A Senate report related to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 asked GAO to compare quality management practices used by the Department of Defense (DOD) and its contractors to those used by leading commercial companies and make suggestions for improvement. To do this, GAO (1) determined the impact of quality problems on selected weapon systems and prime contractor practices that contributed to the problems; (2) identified commercial practices that can be used to improve DOD weapon systems; (3) identified problems that DOD must overcome; and (4) identified recent DOD initiatives that could improve quality. GAO examined 11 DOD weapon systems with known quality problems and met with quality officials from DOD, defense prime contractors, and five leading commercial companies that produce complex products and/or are recognized for quality products.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA476272

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Best Practices
  • Business Administration
  • Congress
  • Engineers
  • Fixed Wing Aircraft
  • Management Personnel
  • Personnel Management
  • Procurement
  • Systems Engineering
  • Test And Evaluation
  • United States Government
  • Warning Systems

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management