Prolonged Cycle Times and Schedule Growth in Defense Acquisition: A Literature Review

Marc Notes: National Defense Research Institute.; Prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.; RR-455-OSD--Page 4 of cover.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 71-83).; This report summarizes a selection of the defense acquisition literature from the 1960s to the present on potential sources of prolonged acquisition cycle times and schedule growth, as well as potential opportunities for improvement. It presents the range of possible causes of schedule-related problems and various recommendations cited for improving schedules by various authors and organizations. This report does not provide critical analysis or an assessment of the strengths or weaknesses of the claims made in the literature. Rather, it provides a starting point for further research or consideration by government acquisition professionals, oversight organizations, and the analytic community. We identified the following reasons for schedule delays in the literature: (1) the difficulty of managing technical risk (e.g., program complexity, immature technology, and unanticipated technical issues), (2) initial assumptions or expectations that were difficult to fulfill (e.g., schedule estimates, risk control, requirements, and performance assumptions), and (3) funding instability. The most commonly cited recommendations for reducing cycle time and controlling schedule growth in the literature are strategies that manage or reduce technical risk. Some of those recommendations include using incremental fielding or evolutionary acquisition strategies, developing derivative products (rather than brand-new designs), using mature or proven technology (i.e., commercial, off-the-shelf components), maintaining stable funding, and using atypical contracting vehicles. Table of Contents: Preface -- Tables -- Summary -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Chapter 1. Background and Motivation -- Literature Review Goals, Methodology, and Limitations -- The Importance of Schedule -- What Lengthens Acquisition Schedules? -- Can Acquisition Schedules Be Schortened? -- What Does It Mean to Improve a Schedule? -- Schedule Improvements Is an Ongoing Challenge and Goal -- Organization of This Report -- Chapter 2. Sources of Schedule Growth -- Reasons for Schedule Growth -- Internal and External Activites -- Requirements Development, Generation, and Management -- Resource Allocation -- Technical Risk -- Technology Complexity and Maturity -- Concurrency -- Prototyping and Testing -- Defense Acquisition Management: Practices, Policies, and Procedures -- Program Management: Schedule Estimation and Management -- Acquisition Approach -- Competition -- Undefinitized Contract Actions -- Tailoring the Acquisition Process -- Other Factors Outside of Program Management Control -- Chapter 3. Improving Schedule Performance -- Successful Practices That May Not Be Applicable to All Programs -- Requirements Development, Generation, and Management -- Resource Allocation -- Managing Technical Risk in Development and Production -- Starting with Mature Technology and Design -- Incrementally Fielded or Evolutionary Acquisition -- Prototyping and Testing -- Development and Manufacturing Approaches -- Defense Acquisition Management: Practices, Policies, and Procedures -- Program Management: Schedule Estimation and Management -- Acquisition Approach -- Chapter 4. Conclusions -- Reducing Technologies Risk -- Improving the Accuracy of Schedule Estimates and Expectations -- Improving the Feasibility and Stability of Requirements -- Closing -- Appendix. A Case Study in Fulfilling an Urgent Operational Need: The MRAP Acquisition Program -- References. Publisher Marketing: This report summarizes a selection of the defense acquisition literature from the 1960s to the present on potential sources of prolonged acquisition cycle times and schedule growth, as well as potential opportunities for improvement. It presents the range of possible causes of schedule-related problems and various recommendations cited for improving schedules by various authors and organizations.