Presented at Western Decision Sciences Institute (WDSI 2015) conference March 31- April 3, 2015 ; Over the last few decades, services acquisition in the Department of Defense (DoD) has continued to increase in terms of both scope of services acquired and the dollars obligated, with the current annual spending reaching over $200 billion. According to the General Accounting Office (GAO), the poor management of service contracts has undermined the government's ability to obtain a good value for the money spent and has contributed to the GAO's decision to designate management of services contracts as a high-risk area for the Department of Defense (DoD). The DoD has responded to these problems by improving services acquisition in several different ways, but even with these improvements, services acquisition still has problems in the areas of procurement planning, source selection, and contract administration.
Presented at Western Decision Sciences Institute (WDSI 2017) conference April 4-8, 2017 ; Continuous process improvement has been widely taught in business schools and has yielded real results and success in both for-profit and non-profit sectors. Though there have been many cases developed for use in business schools, few, if any, situate the topic in a military context. Further, expeditionary logistics presents managers with special problems of being removed from their supporting enterprise systems that process, track, and/or control of such logistical elements as purchase orders, inventory, distribution, receivables, and fulfillment. We present a case in a military setting that exposes students to the challenges of expeditionary logistics and takes them through the fundamentals of process analysis and process improvement.
Sponsored Report (for Acquisition Research Program) ; Healthcare costs throughout the United States are on the rise, drawing increased scrutiny from government officials and Congress. The cost of pharmacy operations and pharmaceuticals is growing at a rate that is alarmingly higher than that of the total cost of military healthcare itself. Recent congressional legislation has essentially given the Department of Defense the ultimatum to cut costs for beneficiaries wherever possible, or risk having benefits arbitrarily cut by Congress. In the face of this possibility, cutting costs through better business practices must be explored, particularly within the area of pharmacy operations. This project explores the potential cost savings that can be realized by implementing Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology in the pharmacy operations of the DoD Medical Treatment Facilities (MTF). This research proves that implementing Lean Six Sigma methodology will improve military pharmacy operations, often at little cost, while realizing significant savings and increased customer satisfaction. ; Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Proceedings Paper (for Acquisition Research Program) ; In general, during the lifecycle of a weapon system, a significantly larger amount of money gets spent on operating and maintaining the system than on acquiring it. Hence, efficient logistics systems, including transportation, inventory management, modifications and maintenance activities, are critically important for containing the lifecycle costs of weapon systems and for maintaining the highest level of military readiness given the extant fiscal constraints. This paper describes Lean Six Sigma (LSS), a strategically important and proven logistics initiative for both reduced lifecycle costs and improved readiness. With aging weapon systems, the US Department of Defense is facing ever-increasing military expenses to maintain military readiness. Hence, the Department of Defense is keenly interested in implementing Lean Six Sigma in all the services. We begin this paper by providing an overview of military logistics and discussing the critical concepts of readiness and cycle-time. Thereafter, we present an overview of Lean Six Sigma methodologies''including Lean production and Six Sigma, and describe the experience in implementing Lean Six Sigma in the Army, Navy and Air force. The paper ends with a discussion of the managerial guidelines for successfully implementing Lean Six Sigma. ; Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
In general, during the lifecycle of a weapon system, a significantly larger amount of money gets spent in operating and maintaining the system than acquiring it. Hence, efficient logistics systems, including transportation, inventory management, modifications and maintenance activities, are critically important for containing the lifecycle costs of weapon systems and for maintaining the highest level of military readiness given the extant fiscal constraints. This paper will describe Lean Six Sigma (LSS), a strategically important and proven logistics initiative for both reduced lifecycle costs and improved readiness. With aging weapon systems, the US Department of Defense is facing ever-increasing military expenses to maintain military readiness. Hence, the Department of Defense is keenly interested in implementing Lean Six Sigma in all the services. In this paper, we present an overview of Lean Six Sigma methodologies, describe Lean Six Sigma implementations with a focus on military applications, and discuss managerial guidelines for successfully implementing Lean Six Sigma. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the issues that military planners should take into account in implementing Lean Six Sigma in the military. ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
In general, during the lifecycle of a weapon systems a significantly larger amount of money gets spent in operating and maintaining the system than acquiring it. Hence, efficient logistics systems, including transportation, inventory management, modifications and maintenance activities, are critically important for containing the lifecycle costs of weapon systems and for maintaining the highest level of military readiness given the extant fiscal constraints. This paper will describe Lean Six Sigma (LSS), a strategically important and proven logistics iniative for both reduced lifecycle costs and improved readiness. With aging weapon systems, the US Department of Defense is facing ever-increasing military expenses to maintain military readiness. Hence, the Department of Defense is keenly interested in implementing Lean Six Sigma in all the services. In this paper, we present an overview of Lean Six Sigma methodologies, describe Lean Six Sigma implementation with a focus on military applications and discuss managerial guidelines for successfully implementing Lean Six Sigma. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the issues that military planners should take into account in implementing Lean Six Sigma in the military. ; Acquisition Chair (GSBPP)
Disclaimer: The views represented in this report are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy position of the Navy, the Department of Defense, or the federal government. ; Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Acquisition Research Symposium Contract Management ; Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program ; Prepared for the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA ; Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Proceedings Paper (for Acquisition Research Program) ; The services acquisition volume in the US Department of Defense (DoD) has continued to increase in scope and dollars in the past decade. In fact, in recent years, the DoD has spent more on services than on supplies, equipment and goods, even considering the high value of weapon systems and large military items (Camm, Blickstein & Venzor, 2004). Between FY 1999 to FY 2003, the DoD''s spending on services increased by 66%; and in FY 2003, the DoD spent over $118 billion (or approximately 57% of total DoD procurement dollars) on services (GAO, 2005a). The acquired services presently cover a very broad set of service activities, including: professional, administrative, and management support; construction, repair, and maintenance of facilities and equipment; information technology; research and development, and medical care. ; Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Sponsored Report (for Acquisition Research Program) ; The services acquisition volume in the US Department of Defense (DoD) has continued to increase in scope and dollars in the past decade. In fact, in recent years, DoD has spent more on services than on supplies, equipment and goods, even considering the high value of weapon systems and large military items. In our previous exploratory research on the challenges and opportunities in service supply chain in DoD, we concluded that although the DoD spends more on acquiring services than goods, the program management infrastructure for the acquisition of services is less developed than that for the acquisition of products and systems. In this paper, we present the findings of our current research that continues our exploration in the area of services acquisition while it focuses on the implications of applying a program management structure to services acquisition. After discussing some continuing issues in services acquisition, we develop a conceptual model of a service lifecycle that can be used to analyze and design DoD''s services acquisition process. We also discuss the program management approach, identify basic project management concepts, describe how these concepts are being used in the acquisition of defense weapon systems, and recommend how they can be adapted in the acquisition of services in DoD. ; Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program
17 USC 105 interim-entered record; under temporary embargo. ; The US economy has undergone significant shifts towards services and towards information intensive industries. The latter trend has been driven by advances in information technology. These advances have concurrently led to substantial changes in the production and delivery of services, especially notable in information-intensive sectors. We examine these changes from the perspective of "service industrialization", since they are similar in many ways to the historical industrialization of goods production. We focus on the effect of industrialization on employment and wages, and identify certain important consequences of this direction. One major consequence is the impact on the customer facing services and the "front office" in addition to the effect on service processes in the "back room". An important aggregate result is a decline in white collar jobs in both those categories. A larger effect is at the sector level, with significant disruptions in some sectors leading to their substantial restructuring. Such disruptions are likely to occur in other information intensive sectors as well. ; U.S. Government affiliation is unstated in article text.
The United States government came out publicly with an explicit statement that the so-called "nine-dash line," which the People's Republic of China (PRC) asserts delineates their claims in the South China Sea, is contrary to the international law. China claims that the "nine-dash line" encircles as much as 90 percent of the contested waters. The line runs as far as 2,000 km from the Chinese mainland to within a few hundred kilometers of the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam. PRC maintains it owns any land or features contained within the line, which confers vaguely defined "historical maritime rights" (Liu 2016). It encircles the area where China demands economic rights. Another interpretation is the line marks the islands and reefs China wants to control rather than the waters inside its boundaries. ¬PRC has long favored a strategy of ambiguity. It does not openly go against international law but prefers to leave space for its more ambitious claims. ; Prepared for the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA 93943. ; Naval Postgraduate School ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Acquisition Research Symposium, Thursday Sessions Volume II ; Over the last few decades, services acquisition has continued to increase in scope and dollars obligated. Contracting for services has grown in relation to systems contracting over the last couple of decades and is the fastest growing procurement sector for the DoD. This growth in dollars obligated has attracted increased political attention and scrutiny on an already problematic defense contracting process. The DoD has responded to these problems by improving services acquisition in several different ways, but even with these improvements, services acquisition still has problems in the areas of procurement planning, source selection, and contract administration. This research continues our ongoing investigation in DoD services acquisition by exploring the determinants of contract success. We use the DoD Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) as a proxy for contract success and determine if there are any relationships between contract variables (type of service, contract dollar value, level of competition, contract type) and contract success based on CPARS ratings (quality of product/service, schedule, cost control, business relations, management of key personnel, and utilization of small business). Our research findings revealed that contract dollar value and level of competition affected the success of a service contract. The findings also revealed that the failure rate in CPARS was lower than expected. Finally, we saw that as the percentage of 1102 filled billets increased, the contract failure rate decreased. We also observed that as workload dollars per filled billet increased, contractor performance ratings also increased, and thus contract failure ratings decreased. From these findings, we present a discussion of the results and the managerial implications. ; The research presented in this report was supported by the Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program of the Graduate School of Business & Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School. ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Second Annual Acquisition Research Symposium ; Developing a methodology and a tool for estimating the operational availability (Ao) of a weapon system based on the component-level reliability and maintainability data is the goal of this research. Specifically, we present two spreadsheet models and one discrete-event simulation model using Arena simulation language. The first two models support lifecycle cost calculations and are static in nature. The third model incorporates the interactions among reliability, time to repair and operational availability into a discrete-event simulation model that can support a weapon-system-level risk analysis. These models are developed as proof-of-concept to demonstrate the potential methodology using hypothetical, yet realistic data.;The following article is taken as an excerpt from the proceedings of the annual Acquisition Research Program. This annual event showcases the research projects funded through the Acquisition Research Program at the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School. Featuring keynote speakers, plenary panels, multiple panel sessions, a student research poster show and social events, the Annual Acquisition Research Symposium offers a candid environment where high-ranking Department of Defense (DoD) officials, industry officials, accomplished faculty and military students are encouraged to collaborate on finding applicable solutions to the challenges facing acquisition policies and processes within the DoD today. By jointly and publicly questioning the norms of industry and academia, the resulting research benefits from myriad perspectives and collaborations which can identify better solutions and practices in acquisition, contract, financial, logistics and program management. For further information regarding the Acquisition Research Program, electronic copies of additional research, or to learn more about becoming a sponsor, please visit our program website at: www.acquisitionresearch.org. For further information on or to register for the next Acquisition Research Symposium during the third week of May, please visit our conference website at: www.researchsymposium.org. ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
