Are Ships Different. Policies and Procedures for the Acquisition of Ship Programs

摘要

This research seeks to improve the policies and procedures used by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the U.S. Navy in providing and supporting oversight of ship acquisition programs. The focus of the research was to identify any aspects of major ship acquisition programs that appear to deviate substantially from the 5000-series management process, identify ambiguities in that process for ship programs, and suggest changes in either DoD or Navy policies and procedures that could ameliorate any undesirable consequences (such as reporting requirements that are not useful to Program Managers or to oversight) and resolve procedural uncertainty for major ship acquisitions. This monograph presents the results of research that was conducted between March 2008 and February 2009. It is intended for an audience who has some background in defense acquisition policy. Particularly, it assumes that the reader is familiar with and has a basic understanding of the DoD 5000- series acquisition regulations and instructions. During the course of this research, the main DoD acquisition regulation, DoD Instruction (DoDI) 5000.2 (May 2003), and Secretary of the Navy Instruction (SECNAVINST) 5000.2C were updated and reissued as DoDI 5000.02 (December 2008) and SECNAVINST 5000.2D (October 2008). Our direct analysis focuses on the most recent versions of the regulations, but our interviews of stakeholders were done while the older instructions were in force. It was not possible to reinterview all the stakeholders. Nevertheless, the changes regarding shipbuilding in either document were not substantial, were already known, or existed as other notes or instructions. We feel, therefore, that our interview findings remain relevant.