Defense Acquisitions: Realizing Savings under Different Littoral Combat Ship Acquisition Strategies Depends on Successful Management of Risks
Abstract
Successful business cases for shipbuilding programs require balance between the concept selected to satisfy warfighter needs and the resources-technologies, design knowledge, funding, time, and management capacity-needed to transform that concept into a product. Without a sound business case, program execution will be hampered, regardless of the contracting strategy. The LCS, given its stage of maturity and its unique mission, design, and operational concept, still faces design and construction risks. Most of these risks appear to be inherent to the program, regardless of which acquisition strategy is followed. Navy officials believe that experience to date on the program, coupled with fixed price contracts and a sufficient budget for ship changes, mitigates this risk. However, much work and demonstration remains for LCS, and other shipbuilding programs have had difficulty at this stage. On the other hand, a second ship design and source provided under the dual award strategy could provide the Navy an additional hedge against risk, should one design prove problematic. Mission equipment packages are common to both ships and would pose the same execution risks, apart from integration.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 14, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA534367
Entities
People
- Paul L. Francis
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office