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Air Force Major Defense Acquisition Program Cost Growth Is Driven by Three Space Programs and the F-35A

Air Force Major Defense Acquisition Program Cost Growth Is Driven by Three Space Programs and the F-35A: Fiscal Year 2013 President's Budget Selected Acquisition Reports

Robert S. Leonard
Akilah Wallace
Copyright Date: 2014
Published by: RAND Corporation
Pages: 50
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/j.ctt14bs2v4
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  • Book Info
    Air Force Major Defense Acquisition Program Cost Growth Is Driven by Three Space Programs and the F-35A
    Book Description:

    Controlling costs in Major Defense Acquisition Programs is essential to the overall affordability of Air Force modernization plans. A handful of ongoing and recently terminated programs account for substantially higher cost growth in recent Air Force programs compared with complete programs. Cost growth to date in four continuing large-dollar programs must be contained to ensure affordability of the Air Force’s long-term investment plans.

    eISBN: 978-0-8330-8994-6
    Subjects: History, Technology

Table of Contents

  1. Front Matter
    (pp. i-ii)
  2. Preface
    (pp. iii-iv)
  3. Table of Contents
    (pp. v-vi)
  4. Figures
    (pp. vii-viii)
  5. Tables
    (pp. ix-x)
  6. Summary
    (pp. xi-xiv)
  7. Acknowledgments
    (pp. xv-xvi)
  8. Abbreviations
    (pp. xvii-xviii)
  9. Chapter One. Selected Acquisition Report Data and Analytics
    (pp. 1-12)

    In the past four decades, the military services and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) have managed hundreds of very large weapon system acquisition programs. These programs, known as Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs), account for more than 40 percent of all weapon system acquisition funding appropriated by Congress. Cost growth and schedule slips in MDAPs cause difficulty in managing acquisition budget accounts and delays in delivering required capabilities to the warfighter. This analysis is one in a series designed to improve MDAP outcomes and develop better cost-estimating tools for use by the acquisition community.

    We analyze cost...

  10. Chapter Two. Analysis of Major Defense Acquisition Programs with Substantial Air Force Funding
    (pp. 13-28)

    Each year, RAND updates the database using the latest SARs.¹ Analyses are conducted to assess the cost growth of the current programs and compare growth with that of prior programs. Analyses in the past few years have focused on cost growth from MS B in Continuing and Complete MDAPs. These analyses show cost growth experienced to date in Continuing programs versus the total cost growth experienced over the life of Complete programs.

    We examine simple average and dollar-weighted average cost growth for multiple metrics. Additional analysis is conducted on the very largest of the New and Continuing programs because they...

  11. Chapter Three. Findings for Major Defense Acquisition Programs with Substantial Air Force Funding
    (pp. 29-30)

    The averages for all acquisition cost growth metrics except development are substantially higher in Continuing programs than Complete programs, indicating that Continuing programs have already experienced a higher rate of cost growth than Completed programs. This finding is statistically significant after adjusting for production quantity changes. Explanations that contribute to this finding are the longer average durations of the Continuing programs, the high frequency of space programs among the Continuing programs, and the absence of electronics programs among the Continuing programs.

    The lower average cost growth in development for Continuing programs was a change from the prior year’s analysis, in...

  12. Bibliography
    (pp. 31-32)