The Better Buying Power (BBP) 2.0 Implementation Guidance of April 24, 2013 included direction to “increase effective use of Performance-Based Logistics.” In a subsequent November 22, 2013  "Performance Based Logistics Comprehensive Guidance" policy memorandum, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness (ASD(L&MR)) identified the “lack of repeatable process, proven tools, and lessons learned for developing PBL arrangements” as a “ barrier to the Department’s broader use of PBL arrangements.” The Acting ASD(L&MR) memo went on to direct “CAEs and the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) will continue to support…efforts to develop and maintain a PBL Best Practices Guidebook” that “provides process guidance, tools, and guiding tenets to assist programs in structuring effective PBL arrangements.”

As a result, the Acting ASD(L&MR) today issued a comprehensive new “PBL Guidebook: A Guide to Developing Performance-Based Arrangements” intended to be utilized as a source (tenets, analytics, metrics, and draft RFP information) for PBL product support strategy development, implementation and refinement.

This new PBL Guidebook was designed from cover-to-cover to serve as both a reference manual for experienced PBL practitioners, as well as a practical "how-to" guide for new-to-PBL logisticians. The guidebook complements Department policies and guidance while providing PBL best practices and practical examples. This PBL Guidebook is also a consolidated resource that leverages DOD instructions, other guidebooks, and the Product Support Business Model (PSBM) as an organizing construct for PBL best practices, processes and supporting documentation needed to craft effective outcome-based PBL product support arrangements.

This new guidebook is being hosted on the Performance Based Logistics Community of Practice (PBL CoP) to ensure it is readily accessible to a broad, interdisciplinary team of Program Managers, Product Support Managers, Life Cycle Logisticians, Contracting Officers, Financial Managers, Systems Engineers and others with life cycle product support and sustainment responsibilities. It is intended to be used in conjunction with a range of related resources included elsewhere on the PBL CoP, and key product support policy, guidance, tools and training available on the Product Support Key References site of the DAU Logistics Community of Practice (LOG CoP).