Are the points inthe future when the U.S. Navy would benefit from a change in direction?

The authors evaluate the use of small ships in theater security cooperation (TSC). They provide the U.S. Navy with a concept of operation for small ships in TSC, necessary small ship characteristics, a survey of suitable ships, and recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of TSC operations conducted with a small vessel. The report concludes that, with a mothership, the PC-1 Cyclone Class would be fully capable for use in TSC.

The authors examine the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System Inc. 1A Nunn-McCurdy breach and document a methodology that can assess and summarize the overall performance of an acquisition portfolio at a point in time and over several years.

This tool documents key but enduring aspects of how the Navy implements the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution process so that action officers and Navy leaders can successfully navigate and effectively contribute to the process.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) aims to improve mission effectiveness and efficiency. In support of this effort, the Office of the Secretary of Defense asked the National Defense Research Institute (NDRI), a federally funded research and development center operated by the RAND Corporation, to construct a baseline of the DoD's government acquisition and procurement functions, including a functional decomposition and estimate of the cost of executing the government portion of the DoD's acquisition enterprise. NDRI researchers estimated these costs at between $29 billion and $38 billion in fiscal year 2017 dollars. To gain perspective on these costs, NDRI researchers identified commercial benchmarks for the amount of program management levels. As a percentage of DoD contracting obligations, NDRI researchers estimated the DoD's program management portion of these costs at about 1.5 percent in the last few years, which is below industry benchmarks of 2-15 percent.

Findings of a study on policy issues relevant to large service acquisitions. Six case studies representing a range of new approaches are used to identify policy issues in which OSD is likely to become involved. In all cases, program management is increasingly important, day-to-day management is delegated to contractors, and alternatives to arms-length relationships are used. OSD should focus on linking services acquisition goals to strategic goals, managing congressional concerns about services acquisition, and developing and disseminating lessons learned.

Congressional concern with cost overruns, or breaches, in several major defense acquisition programs led the authors, in a partnership with the Performance Assessments and Root Cause Analysis Office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, to investigate root causes by examining program reviews, analyzing data, participating in contractor briefings, and holding meetings with diverse stakeholders. The analysis of cost overruns in four programs revealed several contributory factors, including changes in the economy, mis-estimation of costs, and inadequate program planning. Underestimation of baseline costs; increases in component costs; insufficient Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation; inflation; and increased, inadequate, or unstable program funding were identified as root causes in all four programs.

Compares aspects of the Joint Tactical Radio System network domain program with similar elements for the commercial long-term evolution waveform and analyzes acquisition programs that have repeatedly exceeded certain cost thresholds.

Congressional concern with cost overruns, or breaches, in several major defense acquisition programs led the authors, in a partnership with the Performance Assessments and Root Cause Analysis Office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, to investigate root causes by examining program reviews, analyzing data, participating in contractor briefings, and holding meetings with diverse stakeholders.

The U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD's) acquisition system has undergone significant reform. The authors of this report propose that DoD leaders manage the defense acquisition system (DAS) according to its ability to develop and produce capabilities that solve operational problems outlined in the 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS), discuss why this perspective is warranted, and suggest steps that the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment (OUSD [A&S]) could take if it wishes to pursue this approach. The authors recommend that OUSD (A&S) engage DoD's force planning and development apparatus, develop and institutionalize a mechanism to inform OUSD (A&S) leadership and staff on emerging operational and solution concepts, and conduct an experiment to understand the opportunities and limitations of this new approach.