Had an interesting discussion with colleague earlier this week regarding life cycle cost management, and wanted to share a few insights from that discussion to potentially assist those of you who  find yourself square in the midst of that vitally important arena. Given the critical nature of crafting product support strategies that deliver affordable readiness to our Warfighters, if you’re looking for some good life cycle cost references, in addition to your individual Service or Agency references, I might recommend taking a look at the Life Cycle Cost Tools section on our DAU Logistics Community of Practice. Additional excellent sources of information include:

·         Product Support Business Case Analysis (BCA) Guidebook

·         Defense Acquisition Guidebook (DAG)

·         Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction CJCSI 3170.01H

·         Appendix E to Enclosure B of the JCIDS Manual

·         Cost Estimating Community of Practice (CoP)

·         Business Community of Practice (CoP)

·         Financial Management Community of Practice (CoP)

·         Cost Assessment & Program Management (CAPE) website

·         2007 Cost Analysis Improvement Group (CAIG) Operations & Support (O&S) Cost-Estimating Guide

·         an O&S Cost Management Guidebook (in staffing and will be posted on the Guidance page of the DAU Product Support Policy, Guidance, Tools & Training site when published)

We also got to discussing various life cycle cost management tools, and he asked about what we thought of tools such as Cost Analysis Strategy Assessment (CASA) Model and Automated Cost Estimating Integrated Tools (ACEIT). Because both are included in our newly launched Product Support Analytical Tools database I recommended perusing the entire database (and feel free to offer any suggested additions or updates via the "Feedback" tab or the "Suggest a New Tool" button).  It is important to note the disclaimer at the bottom of the homepage, however, as DAU does not endorse or recommend any particular tool given the mix of government & commercial tools, and mix of licensing fees required vice those that don't.  However if you’re looking for additional information about cost management tools, including both CASA and ACEIT, recommend taking a look at an excellent 2010 research article on this particular subject entitled "It’s Time to Take the Chill Out of Cost Containment and Re-Energize a Key Acquisition Practice.” It provides some very practical and useful insights and information related to a number of potential tools.  Finally, in addition to considering signing up for the BCF 215 O&S Cost Analysis course, would definitely take note of the fact that the Ownership Cost Key Systems Attribute (KSA) and life cycle sustainment metric  is now the O&S Cost KSA per the JCIDS Manual. For additional details, see my July 25, 2012 blog entitled “DoD Sustainment Metrics.”

What do you think? What did I miss? What would add to this discussion? Ideas are both welcome and encouraged!