How many times have we heard the old adage, “words matter”? To assist you in your never-ending quest for cognizance, understanding, and insight, here few handy product support and sustainment-related definitions, terms, and references you might find helpful:

• Sustainment - "see Life Cycle Sustainment and Integrated Product Support". (Source: DAU Glossary)

• Life Cycle Sustainment - Translates force provider capability and performance requirements into tailored product support to achieve specified and evolving life cycle product support availability, reliability, and affordability parameters. Life cycle sustainment considerations include supply; maintenance; transportation; sustainment engineering; data management; configuration management; human systems integration (HSI); environment, safety (including explosives), and occupational health; protection of critical program information and anti-tamper provisions, supportability, and interoperability. Initially begun during Materiel Solution Analysis (MSA) phase and matured during the Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) phase, life cycle sustainment planning spans a system’s entire life cycle from MSA phase to disposal. (Source: DAU Glossary)

• Integrated Product Support (IPS) - A key life cycle management enabler, IPS is the package of support functions required to deploy and maintain the readiness and operational capability of major weapon systems, subsystems, and components, including all functions related to weapon systems readiness. The package of product support functions related to weapon system readiness, which can be performed by both public and private entities, includes the tasks that are associated with the Integrated Product Support (IPS) Elements which scope product support. (Sources: DAU Glossary and DoD Product Support Manager (PSM) Guidebook)

• Life Cycle Sustainment - Life cycle sustainment comprises the range of planning, implementation and execution activities that support the sustainment of weapon systems. Best practice and guidance for ensuring that these systems meet sustainment objectives and satisfy user sustainment needs includes sustainment considerations in all phases of the program's life cycle. (Source: Defense Acquisition Guidebook (DAG) Chapter 4, Para 4-2)

• Product Support.-The term "product support" means the package of support functions required to field and maintain the readiness and operational capability of major weapon systems, subsystems, and components, including all functions related to weapon system readiness. (Source: 10 U.S.C. 2337 Life Cycle Management and Product Support)

• Sustainment - Sustainment is a distributed and long-term activity that requires the alignment of the program office, requirements community, systems engineers, sustainment commands, logistics community, resource sponsors, and others. (Source: Defense Acquisition Guidebook (DAG) Chapter 4, Para 4-2-1)

• Total Systems Approach - The PM shall be the single point of accountability for accomplishing program objectives for total life-cycle systems management, including sustainment. The PM shall apply human systems integration to optimize total system performance (hardware, software, and human), operational effectiveness, and suitability, survivability, safety, and affordability. PMs shall consider supportability, life cycle costs, performance, and schedule comparable in making program decisions. Planning for Operation and Support and the estimation of total ownership costs shall begin as early as possible. Supportability, a key component of performance, shall be considered throughout the system life cycle. (Source: DoD Directive 5000.01, Para E1.1.29.)

• Sustainment Strategies - Sustainment strategies shall include the best use of public and private sector capabilities through government/industry partnering initiatives, in accordance with statutory requirements. (Source: DoD Directive 5000.01, Para E1.1.17.)

• Sustainment - The provision of logistics and personnel services required to maintain and prolong operations until successful mission accomplishment. (Sources: Joint Publication JP 3-0 and DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms)

• Weapon System Product Support - Weapon system product support operates at the intersection of Defense acquisition and logistics. Product support, also referred to as system sustainment, is the package of support functions required to maintain the readiness and operational capability of weapon systems, subsystems, software, and support systems. It encompasses materiel management, distribution, technical data management, maintenance, training, cataloging, configuration management, engineering support, repair parts management, failure reporting and analysis, and reliability growth. Product support considerations, germane to both acquisition and logistics, are necessary throughout the DoD life cycle framework, beginning with early requirements determination and continuing through system design, development, operational use, retirement, and disposal. (Source: Weapon System Acquisition Reform: Product Support Assessment (Nov 2009))

• Operations & Support (O&S) Phase (Source: DoDI 5000.02, Para 5.d. (14))

(a) Purpose. The purpose of the O&S Phase is to execute the product support strategy, satisfy materiel readiness and operational support performance requirements, and sustain the system over its life cycle (to include disposal). The O&S Phase begins after the production or deployment decision and is based on an MDA-approved LCSP. Enclosure 6 includes a more detailed discussion of sustainment planning; Enclosure 7 addresses planning for human systems integration.

(b) Phase Description. The phase has two major efforts, Sustainment and Disposal. The LCSP, prepared by the Program Manager and approved by the MDA, is the basis for the activities conducted during this phase.

1. Sustainment. During this phase, the Program Manager will deploy the product support package and monitor its performance according to the LCSP. The LCSP may include time-phased transitions between commercial, organic, and partnered product support providers. The Program Manager will ensure resources are programmed and necessary IP deliverables and associated license rights, tools, equipment, and facilities are acquired to support each of the levels of maintenance that will provide product support; and will establish necessary organic depot maintenance capability in compliance with statute and the LCSP.

Finally, as a bonus, in addition to the DAU Glossary of Defense Acquisition Acronyms and Terms, check out our Product Support Key Definitions site on our DAU Logistics Community of Practice (LOG CoP), as well as a November 2013 blog post entitled “Product Support and Sustainment - A Study in Contrasts”.