On October 7, 2009, House-Senate Conference Committee Agreement was reached on the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Authorization Bill, and the next day, the House approved the FY2010 Defense Authorization Conference Report. It was signed by the President on October 28.

The reason I share this with you is specifically related to Section 805, which is entitled "Life-cycle management and product support,” and among other things, states that “the Secretary of Defense shall require that each major weapon system be supported by a product support manager” (PSM)."  This is a big deal, both from how DoD plans, develops, fields, and manages product support and sustainment of its major weapon systems, and how Performance Based Life Cycle Product Support (PBL) arrangements are managed and executed in the future. The PSM will have six specifically identified responsibilities:

(A) develop and implement a comprehensive product support strategy for the weapon system;

(B) conduct appropriate cost analyses to validate the product support strategy, including cost-benefit analyses as outlined in Office of Management and Budget Circular A-94;

(C) assure achievement of desired product support outcomes through development and implementation of appropriate product support arrangements;

(D) adjust performance requirements and resource allocations across product support integrators and product support providers as necessary to optimize implementation of the product support strategy;

(E) periodically review product support arrangements between the product support integrators and product support providers to ensure the arrangements are consistent with the overall product support strategy; and

(F) prior to each change in the product support strategy or every five years, whichever occurs first, revalidate any business-case analysis performed in support of the product support strategy.

Section 805 also clarifies the role, responsibilities, and definition of the Product Support Integrator (PSI) under PBL arrangements by stating that ''product support integrator  means an entity within the Federal Government or outside the Federal Government charged with integrating all sources of product support, both private and public, defined within the scope of a product support arrangement.”

Encourage you to read the specific language at http://armedservices.house.gov/. Also, although we don’t endorse non-DoD publications in these blog postings, the writers at  “Inside the Pentagon” wrote a related October 15, 2009 article entitled “As part of FY-10 defense bill . . . Congress Expands Role of Product Support Managers in MDAPs” which provides additional insights into details and implications of the new requirement for a PSM.