Owning the TECHNICAL for Acquisition Programs in the |
Committee on Owning the Technical Baseline for Acquisition Programs
in the U.S. Air Force: A Study
Air Force Studies Board
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
A Report of
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
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This activity was supported by Grant FA9550-14-1-0127 from the U.S. Air Force. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the view of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-44903-8
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Digital Object Identifier: 10.17226/23631
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Owning the Technical Baseline for Acquisition Programs in the U.S. Air Force. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23631.
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COMMITTEE ON OWNING THE TECHNICAL BASELINE FOR ACQUISITION PROGRAMS IN THE U.S. AIR FORCE: A STUDY
HENRY A. OBERING III, Booz Allen Hamilton, Chair
LAWRENCE J. DELANEY, Independent Consultant, Vice Chair
DONALD R. ERBSCHLOE, Technical Consultant
MILLARD S. FIREBAUGH, University of Maryland
MICHAEL D. GRIFFIN, Schafer Corporation
GARY A. KYLE, Persistent Agility, Inc.
THOMAS L. MAXWELL, Independent Aerospace Consultant
SUE C. PAYTON, SCI Aerospace, Inc.
RICHARD T. ROCA, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University
WILLIAM J. STRICKLAND, HumRRO
DEBORAH L. WESTPHAL, Toffler Associates
REBECCA WINSTON, Winston Strategic Management Consulting
Staff
JOAN FULLER, Director, Air Force Studies Board
ANDREW J. KREEGER, Study Director
DIONNA C. ALI, Research Assistant
STEVEN DARBES, Research Assistant
ADRIANNA HARGROVE, Senior Program Assistant/Financial Assistant
CHRIS JONES, Financial Manager
MARGUERITE E. SCHNEIDER, Administrative Coordinator
JOAN ZIMMERMANN, Consultant
AIR FORCE STUDIES BOARD
DOUGLAS M. FRASER, Doug Fraser, LLC, Chair
DONALD C. FRASER, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory (retired), Vice Chair
BRIAN A. ARNOLD, Peachtree City, Georgia
ALLISON ASTORINO-COURTOIS, National Security Innovations, Inc.
TED F. BOWLDS, The Spectrum Group
STEVEN R.J. BRUECK, University of New Mexico
FRANK J. CAPPUCCIO, Cappuccio and Associates, LLC
BLAISE J. DURANTE, U.S. Air Force (retired)
BRENDAN B. GODFREY, University of Maryland, College Park
MICHAEL A. HAMEL, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company
DANIEL E. HASTINGS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
RAYMOND E. JOHNS, JR., Flight Safety International
ROBERT H. LATIFF, R. Latiff Associates
NANCY G. LEVESON, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MARK J. LEWIS, Institute for Defense Analyses Science and Technology Policy Institute
ALEX MILLER, University of Tennessee
OZDEN OCHOA, Texas A&M University
RICHARD V. REYNOLDS, The VanFleet Group, LLC
STARNES E. WALKER, University of Delaware
DEBORAH WESTPHAL, Toffler Associates
DAVID A. WHELAN, Boeing Defense, Space, and Security
REBECCA WINSTON, Winston Strategic Management Consulting
MICHAEL I. YARYMOVYCH, Sarasota Space Associates
Staff
JOAN FULLER, Director
ALAN H. SHAW, Deputy Director
DIONNA C. ALI, Research Assistant
GEORGE C. COYLE, Senior Program Officer
STEVEN DARBES, Research Assistant
CARTER W. FORD, Program Officer
ADRIANNA HARGROVE, Senior Program Assistant/Financial Assistant
CHRIS JONES, Financial Manager
ANDREW J. KREEGER, Program Officer
MARGUERITE E. SCHNEIDER, Administrative Coordinator
Foreword
After my early operational flying assignments, I began my U.S. Air Force (USAF) acquisition career in 1980 coming out of graduate school. At that time, USAF acquisition was considered the gold standard in the Department of Defense (DoD). The culture was one of innovation and risk taking, producing systems that performed in Operation Desert Storm, including the stealth fighter/bomber, precision-guided weapons, and so on. I personally experienced the quality of the USAF acquisition community when I served as the executive officer to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition) in the early 1990s. The vast majority of the USAF program managers and the System Program Office teams that briefed their programs through the DoD oversight chain clearly “owned” the technical baseline of their systems, were knowledgeable about the industry, and were authoritative and accountable for their performance.
When I compare what I observed then to what the committee heard in its interviews for this study, it is clear that the USAF acquisition culture of innovation and risk taking has eroded. There are definitely very professional program executive officers (PEOs) and program managers (PMs) who are performing well in spite of the barriers to their success, which the committee discusses in this report. But it is also clear that the USAF needs to take critical steps to emphasize the value of the USAF acquisition professional; reinforce the PM’s authority and accountability; clarify the role of the contracting officer with the PM; strengthen the technical expertise of the acquisition workforce; and continue to knock down barriers as they arise. This is especially important in light of the ever shorter timeframes within
which the Air Force needs to develop and deploy warfighting capabilities to meet rapidly emerging threats.
This study was not meant to be another attempt at acquisition reform. The committee wanted to stay focused on concrete and achievable steps that the USAF could take to strengthen its ability to produce and maintain weapons systems in a more timely and cost-effective manner. We are truly fighting tomorrow’s wars today in our system program offices, and we should make sure that our acquisition warfighters have every available weapon in their arsenal.
Lt. Gen. (USAF, Ret.) Henry A. “Trey” Obering III, Chair
Committee on Owning the Technical Baseline for
Acquisition Programs in the U.S. Air Force: A Study
Preface
This study was conducted as a follow-on activity to the National Research Council1 workshop “Owning the Technical Baseline for Acquisition Programs in the U.S. Air Force.” The workshop created the framework and foundational information this study utilized to explore the important topic of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) owning the technical baseline in its acquisition programs. During the workshop the topics of programs, leadership and culture, workforce, contracting, and funding were identified as fundamental components of owning the technical baseline. The workshop and its subsequent report,2 published in 2015, were leveraged as a reference document and as a foundation for this study’s approach to address issues identified during the workshop.
STATEMENT OF TASK AND STUDY APPROACH
The Air Force Studies Board (AFSB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was asked by the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Science, Technology and Engineering to build on the work of the aforementioned workshop and provide recommendations to improve the USAF’s capabilities to
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1 Effective July 1, 2015, the institution is called the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. References in this report to the National Research Council are used in a historical context for identifying programs prior to that date.
2 National Research Council, Owning the Technical Baseline for Acquisition Programs in the U.S. Air Force: A Workshop Report, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2015.
own the technical baseline for its acquisition programs. The National Academies approved the statement of task for this study in August 20153 and in October 2015 appointed the Committee on Owning the Technical Baseline for Acquisition Programs in the U.S. Air Force: A Study.4 The committee was asked to address the following questions:
- What is the strategic value to the U.S. Air Force in properly controlling, as well as the risk of not controlling, the technical baselines of its programs?
- How do others (e.g., services, government agencies, and commercial industry) control technical baselines and what are the most promising mechanisms for potential application within the U.S. Air Force?
- Are there ways to remove or remediate barriers across the U.S. Air Force, such as barriers identified in Owning the Technical Baseline for Acquisition Programs in the U.S. Air Force: A Workshop Report to properly control the technical baselines of future programs?
- How can the U.S. Air Force assess and adopt any identified methods for controlling the technical baselines across its acquisition programs?
To address these questions, the committee held three data-gathering meetings, which included face-to-face and telephone interviews, from January through March 2016 to review the information presented and discussed during the workshop, independently research the topic, conduct interviews with experts, identify key findings, and develop recommendations. A fourth meeting was held in May 2016 for the committee to write the report. Throughout the meetings, the committee met with current and former senior personnel from the USAF, the Navy, Department of Defense (DoD), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Defense Acquisition University (DAU), and industry.5 In this context, the committee aimed to identify the strategic and operational value to the USAF of properly controlling, or “owning,” the technical baselines of its programs by investigating how other services, government agencies, and industry control technical baselines and qualitatively measure the success of their control. The committee sought to identify and recommend methods to remove or remediate barriers to owning the technical baseline that exist across the USAF. These recommendations were developed by examining how the programs, leadership and culture, workforce, contracting, and funding all play roles in the decisions regarding programs and controlling the technical baseline.
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3Appendix A provides the statement of task for this study.
4Appendix B provides short biographies of the committee members.
5Appendix C provides a list of meetings and speakers.
Acknowledgment of Reviewers
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
R. Stephen Berry, University of Chicago,
Holly Dunlap, Raytheon Company,
Gordon R. England, PFP Cybersecurity,
John M. Griffin, Griffin Consulting,
Ronald T. Kadish, Booz Allen Hamilton,
William A. LaPlante, The MITRE Corporation,
Paul D. Nielsen, Carnegie Mellon University,
Jon S. Ogg, AeroVise, LLC, and
Starnes E. Walker, University of Delaware.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Chris G. Whipple, ENVIRON (retired), who was respon-
sible for making certain that independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
Contents
Overview of the Workshop on Owning the Technical Baseline
Key Observations from the Workshop
Current Environment for Acquisition Programs in the U.S. Air Force
2 STRATEGIC VALUE OF OWNING THE TECHNICAL BASELINE
The Importance of Owning the Technical Baseline
The Risk of Not Owning the Technical Baseline
How Other Agencies Own the Technical Baseline
3 RECOMMENDATIONS AND BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENTATION
Acronyms
A&AS | Advisory and Assistance Services |
AFFARS | Air Force Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement |
AFLCMC | Air Force Life Cycle Management Center |
AFNWC | Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center |
AFOCD | Air Force Officer Classification Directory |
AFSB | Air Force Studies Board |
AFWCF | Air Force Working Capital Fund |
AWQI | Acquisition Workforce Qualification Initiative |
BBP | better buying power |
CLoA | contracting line of authority |
CO | contracting officer |
DAE | Defense Acquisition Executive |
DAU | Defense Acquisition University |
DAWIA | Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act |
DCGS | Distributed Common Ground System |
DoD | Department of Defense |
DoDI | Department of Defense Instruction |
EPASS | Engineering, Professional, and Administrative Support Services |
EWI | Education with Industry |
FAR | Federal Acquisition Regulation |
GAO | Government Accountability Office |
GPS | Global Positioning System |
GSA | General Services Administration |
KPP | key performance parameter |
LPTA | lowest price, technically acceptable |
MAC | multiple award contract |
MDA | Missile Defense Agency |
MDAP | major defense acquisition program |
NAICS | North American Industry Classification System |
NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
NNSA | National Nuclear Security Administration |
NRC | National Research Council |
NRO | National Reconnaissance Office |
O&M | operations and maintenance |
OASIS | One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services |
OCX | operational control segment |
OEM | original equipment manufacturer |
OSD | Office of the Secretary of Defense |
OTB | owning the technical baseline |
PEO | program executive officer |
PM | program manager |
PM-LOA | program management line of authority |
PMO | Program Management Office |
PPBE | planning, programming, budget, and execution |
RDT&E | research, development, testing, and evaluation |
RFP | request for proposal |
ROTC | Reserve Officers’ Training Corps |
S&E | science and engineering |
SAF/AQ | Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition |
SAF/FM | Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller |
SAF/GC | Assistant Secretary of the Air Force General Council |
SAF/IE | Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment, and Logistics |
SAF/MR | Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs |
SBIRS | space-based infrared system |
SE&I | systems engineering and integration |
SecAF | Secretary of the Air Force |
SMC | Space and Missile Systems Center |
SPO | Systems Program Office |
STEM | science, technology, engineering, and mathematics |
TA/LEP | technically acceptable, lowest evaluated price |
TRL | technology readiness level |
TSPR | total system performance responsibility |
TTP | tactics, techniques, and procedure |
USAF | U.S. Air Force |
USD (AT&L) | Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics |
WSARA | Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act |
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