Acquisition Program Risk Management: Does the Department of Defense Risk Management Practices Guide Provide an Effective Risk Tool for Program Managers in Today's Acquisition Environment?
Abstract
Acquisition program risk management is a required work activity throughout an acquisition program's life cycle. A program manager (PM), in today's acquisition environment, must continually assess program risk to manage program uncertainty. Risk management assists PMs in defining if they can meet cost (can the product or service be delivered with available funding resources), schedule (can the product or service be delivered in time), and performance requirements (whether the product or service will be able to meet mission-essential requirements). Tools for effective program risk management are widely available in the United States commercial sector. The Department of Defense (DoD) has developed and published a "Risk Management Guide for DoD Acquisition". The Guide provides a tool for PMs to assess risk and present findings to senior-level leaders in the DoD acquisition community. The purpose of this research is to address the following questions: (1) Does the Guide provide an effective tool in managing program risk in today's acquisition environment?; and (2) Can the Guide be improved? This Strategy Research Project consists of the review of the Guide and risk management documentation and articles from multiple Internet sources. The Guide is presented and reviewed to provide the reader of this report with a general understanding of DoD risk management practices. Risk management documentation and articles provide an understanding of the effectiveness and usefulness of risk management practices. The study also includes a survey to hel acquisition personnel understand risk management practices currently in use by the DoD acquisition community. The survey is aligned to gather data on knowledge and relevance of the Guide, respondent demographics, and other risk management tools now used by the acquisition community. DoD acquisition career field employees are the target population for this study.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA563263
Entities
People
- Robert C. Lyons
Organizations
- Defense Acquisition University