Eliminating Major Gaps in DoD Data on the Fully-Burdened and Life-Cycle Cost of Military Personnel: Cost Elements Should be Mandated by Policy.

摘要

It is increasingly apparent and documented by and to senior Department of Defense (DoD) and Congressional leaders, outside think tanks and subject matter experts, that the fully-burdened and life-cycle cost growth trends supporting the All-Volunteer force have reached unsustainable levels. Although the Department requires its contractors to provide fully-burdened and life-cycle cost computations on their invoices and the Department s acquisition process require the same before approving the purchase of major weapon systems, The Reserve Forces Policy Board (RFPB) found that the Department does not know, use, or track the fully-burdened and life-cycle costs of its most expensive resource its military personnel. Thus, major military manpower decisions are uninformed on the real present and future costs. The RFPB concluded that the Department suffers from a gap in its costing data, because it lacks proper policy to require a complete and consistent costing methodology that can identify the true fully-burdened and life-cycle costs. Consequently, in this report, the Board recommends the establishment of such policies and proposes specific cost elements that should be included in them.