Last Friday’s blog post “DoD Product Support Assessment-A Retrospective” on the ten year anniversary of the issuance of the November 2009 DoD Weapon System Acquisition Reform: Product Support Assessment got me to thinking about the myriad of product support-focused success enablers that have been put in place by the Department of Defense over the last decade and a half.

There are far too many to name here, but ten seminal initiatives that have not only been successfully implemented, but that I believe have significantly transformed the culture and processes for the better within the Department, the Services, and Defense Agencies include the:

• April 2004 transformation of the previous narrowly-focused Acquisition Logistics functional community into the more broadly life-cycle management-focused Life Cycle Logistics community/career field
• August 2006 JROC Memo 161-06 establishing a Sustainment Key Performance Parameter, and subsequent implementing Joint Staff, OSD, and Service policies
• June 2008 DoD Logistics Human Capital Strategy (HCS) and subsequent 2019 update
• June 2009 Department of Defense Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Cost (RAM-C) Rationale Report Manual and the subsequent DoD and Service policies and guidance, coupled with the establishment in law of a requirement for Sustainment Factors in Weapon System Design (10 USC 2443)
• November 2009 DoD Weapon System Acquisition Reform: Product Support Assessment, including the simple, yet effective Product Support Business Model (PSBM)
• October 2009 FY10 NDAA, Section 805 (Public Law 111-84, later codified into 10 U.S.C. 2337 Life Cycle Management and Product Support) establishing the Product Support Manager (PSM) position and outlining specific duties and responsibilities in law.
• Most significant overhaul of the old ten Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) Elements in a generation, transforming them into the vastly more interdisciplinary twelve Integrated Product Support (IPS) Elements, and promulgating them in Appendix A of the 2011 Product Support Manager (PSM) Guidebook (as subsequently updated)
• September 2011 establishment of a requirement for a Life Cycle Sustainment Plan (LCSP)
• Establishment in law requiring Independent Logistics Assessments (ILA) (10 USC 2337a) and Post-IOC Sustainment Reviews (10 USC 2441), along with OSD and Service implementing policy and guidance.
• The rapid and ongoing transformation of DAU life cycle logistics training and DoD life cycle logistics workforce professional development initiatives, with new and urgent emphasis on vital topics such as reliability, availability and maintainability (LOG 104), supportability analysis (LOG 211), sustainment (LOG 206), life cycle product support (LOG 340), configuration management (LOG 204), technical data/product data management (LOG 215), executive product support manager (PSM) training (LOG 465), along with many, many others.

The transformation continues, with a range of other major focus areas, initiatives, and enablers upon us -- or soon to be:

• 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) of the United States of America
• Adaptive Acquisition Framework (AAF) and its six acquisition pathways
• Establishment of new DAU Credentials Program
• Recommendations of the FY16 NDAA (Public Law 114-92) Section 809 Panel, including recommendation in Volume 3 to establish a requirement for a Sustainment Program Baseline
• Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) initiatives including, but not limited to cybersecurity threats, counterfeit parts, industrial base issues, and diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortages (DMSMS).

So what do you think? Agree or disagree? What did I miss? Have these helped? Are we “there yet”? What else?