Should Cost Management: Why? How?

Abstract

One of the most powerful of the Better Buying Power (BBP) initiatives is the use of should cost management on major program acquisitions to incentivize productivity and reduce cost. At the heart of this initiative is a challenge to the business-as-usual approach, with its underlying assumption that program costs will grow to match (or exceed) the independent cost estimate. The goal of the program manager must be to challenge the inevitability of past performance by identifying and eliminating process inefficiencies and embracing cost savings opportunities. The purpose of this paper is to outline how to implement should cost management and describe how it can lead to more affordable programs.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA563906

Entities

People

  • Ashton B. Carter
  • John Mueller

Organizations

  • Defense Acquisition University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Assembly Lines
  • Business Administration
  • Commerce
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Cost Estimates
  • Costs
  • Efficiency
  • Engineering
  • Governments
  • Manufacturing
  • Personnel Management
  • Production
  • Productivity
  • Program Management
  • Test And Evaluation

Fields of Study

  • Business

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Systems Analysis and Design