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Suggested Citation:"Government Initiatives." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
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GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

Greg Saunders Acting Director,Manufacturing Modernization U.S. Departmentof Defense

Note: Mr Saunders did not provide the text of his talk, but he did providean outline, which is presented below. In addition, David Harris,the Morning Moderator, prepared a brief summary of Mr. Saunders' talk, which is presented after the outline.

CHANGING MILITARY SPECIFICATIONS, A DEFENSE IMPERATIVE

ECONOMIC SECURITY
  • National security is as dependent on economic security as it ison war-fighting capability

  • Economic security depends on an integrated industrial base thatis:

    • Healthy

    • Versatile

    • Not dependent on defense dollars for survival

    • Able to meet defense needs

ACQUISITION REFORM
  • Simplify laws and regulations

  • Integrate commercial and military industrial base

  • Reform specifications and standards

Suggested Citation:"Government Initiatives." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
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BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE
  • Process Action Team report

  • Major part of acquisition reform

  • Release imminent

MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS
  • Performance specifications

  • Restrict use of military specifications

  • Revise or cancel management and manufacturing standards

  • Educate the work force

  • Automate

IMPLEMENTATION SCHEMA
  • Policy statement by Secretary of Defense

  • Details to be developed

  • Funding

  • Metrics

BOTTOM LINE
  • Not much new

  • Very high attention

NATIONAL STANDARDS SYSTEM NETWORK (NSSN)

NEEDED—STANDARDS INFORMATION
  • Ability to search multiple sources

  • Knowledge of standards projects

    • Subject

    • Scope

    • Schedule

    • Drafts

  • Local, on-line delivery of standards

  • Graphics, tables, formulae

  • Alert service—for changed standards

Suggested Citation:"Government Initiatives." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
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NSSN VISION
  • Provide electronic access to standards and standards information

  • Establish integrated service to support, maintain, and enhance thenational standards environment

  • Enable timely standards development and standards integration

  • Reduce standards overlap and duplication

NSSN OBJECTIVES
  • Reduce time and cost of standards development

  • Reduce number of standards based on obsolete technology

  • Improve user access to and involvement in developing national andinternational standards

  • Increase use of national and international standards by U.S. businesses

  • Disseminate to small and medium sized manufacturers through MTCs(Manufacturing Technology Centers)

NSSN DEVELOPMENT
  • Define user requirements

  • Link existing standards systems via existing networks

  • Select off-the-shelf standards-based technologies to support thesystem

BASIC ASSUMPTIONS
  • Interconnections over existing networks

  • Bi-directional exchange of information

  • Based on existing standards

  • Use existing systems wherever possible

  • Protect copyrights and revenues

COMPONENTS OF NSSN: FOUR SYSTEMS
  • Standards access and delivery

  • Standards development and maintenance

  • Standards cataloging, indexing, searching

  • Standards packaging and distribution

Suggested Citation:"Government Initiatives." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
×

SUMMARY

(Prepared by David Harris)

In his talk on government initiatives, Greg Saunders said that in the past, the lack of travel funds and the lack ofmotivation have been the key barriers to greater involvement in thevoluntary standards process by federal employees. This is especiallytrue when they can easily develop a new milspec to meet their immediateneed. Another value is that the federal agency has virtually completecontrol over such criteria.

Mr. Saunders described discussions about a National Standards SystemNetwork for standards information that would be driven by users.And, he cited a recent DoD report on military standards and specificationswhich made five major recommendations:

  • use of performance specifications

  • reduce/restrict use of milspecs (justification based decisions)

  • revise/cancel management and manufacturing standards

  • educate work force

  • automate

Mr. Saunders concluded by outlining a process to establish policyfor meeting DoD's performance needs, the use of non-government standards,and implementing those policies.

Suggested Citation:"Government Initiatives." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
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Page 21
Suggested Citation:"Government Initiatives." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
×
Page 22
Suggested Citation:"Government Initiatives." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
×
Page 23
Suggested Citation:"Government Initiatives." National Research Council. 1995. User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9200.
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Page 24
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