Data Envelopment Analysis as a Tool to Evaluate Efficiency of Army Real Property Management Activities (RPMA) Spending

摘要

The U.S. Army is developing an Output Oriented Resource Management System (OORMS) to compare the value of resources expended with those received for all Army programs. One of the programs to be encompassed by OORMS is Real Property Management Activities (RPMA). The RPMA program consists of a wide range of goals from which it is difficult to identify a single, quantifiable entity that represents the overall goal. Thus, to enable a realistic assessment in OORMS, a performance index is needed to evaluate the efficiency of RPMA at U.S. Army installations. Three alternative modeling techniques were considered for potential use in developing such an index. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was selected because of its ability to accommodate multiple inputs and outputs simultaneously without requiring that weight and functional relationships be specified. The performance index was applied to RPMA and its use in several stages of the resource management process was analyzed. Results were distributed to managers at the Major Command (MACOM) headquarters and installation levels for review. In general, DEA appears to be a feasible modeling technique for RPMA performance; however, the method needs refinement to enable better discrimination among efficient installations and to optimize features of the index. A prototype should be developed and implemented at the installations to test different input and output measures. (sdw)