Services Supply Chain in the Department of Defense: Comparison and Analysis of Acquisition Management in the Army, Navy, and Air Force

Abstract

This paper presents the results of our empirical studies of current management practices in services acquisition in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The primary objective of these studies was to develop a comprehensive understanding of how services acquisition is being managed within, as well as across, individual military services. In these empirical studies, we developed and deployed a Web-based survey to collect primary data. Specifically, we studied the current management practices in such areas as contract characteristics, and acquisition management methods including regional- or installation-level acquisition, use of project management approach, acquisition leadership and ownership of requirements. We also studied other program management issues such as scope and ability of personnel responsible for acquisition, adequacy of acquisition billets and their fill rates, and training provided to services acquisition personnel. We found that for the most part the services contracts awarded and administered conformed to our expectation. For example, most service contracts are competitively bid fixed-priced awards with a minimal use of any type of contract incentives. The survey data also confirmed that the Navy uses regional approach in services acquisition, while the Army and the Air Force use installation-level approach. These differences, in turn, appear to be having important implications for other acquisition management practices such as the use of project management and contract surveillance. One surprising finding of the study was that the project teams are often led by the contracting officer as opposed to a formally designated project manager responsible for the overall service project success.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA530178

Entities

People

  • Aruna U. Apte
  • Rene G. Rendon
  • Uday M. Apte

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Business Administration
  • Contract Administration
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Department Of Defense
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • Information Systems
  • Logistics
  • Management Personnel
  • Operations Management
  • Organizational Structure
  • Procurement
  • Program Management
  • Supply Chain
  • Supply Chain Management

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Theoretical Analysis.