Challenges to Implementing Organic Performance Based Logistics PBL Strategies Report - DTD Dec 09

According to the report, the Department of Defense’s November 2009 Weapon System Acquisition Reform Product Support Assessment “identified substantial opportunities for improved product support inherent in the adoption of performance-based logistics (PBL) by the DoD organic logistics community. While there are challenges to establishing PBL structures, the product support assessment recognized the benefits provided by the organic logistics community’s involvement with PBL efforts— increased availability and decreased costs—warrant the effort.” The report seeks to “determine the types of actions employed in highly successful PBL arrangements that achieve performance expectations and the common management mechanisms used by commercial firms to oversee and execute PBL efforts. The insights…gained helped (the report authors) identify and recommend changes that need to be made within DoD to successfully plan for and manage the execution of organic PBL strategies.” IMPORTANT NOTE: This copyright LMI Report # DAC90T2 is posted with permission of the report sponsor, Assistant Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Materiel Readiness and the report author, LMI. The views, opinions and finding contained in this report are those of LMI and should not be construed as an official Department of Defense or Defense Acquisition University position, policy or decision, unless so designated by other official documentation. This report specifically “recommends actions for creating an “opportunity environment” and eliminating specific disincentives in order to foster increased involvement of organic activities in contractor-integrated PBL efforts. The impediments to expanded adoption, and effective execution, of government-integrated PBL strategies involve many more challenges. The actions recommended include: creating an opportunity environment, establishing processes for developing requisite Product Support Integrator (PSI) capabilities, providing currently missing enablers, eliminating several disincentives, and creating an appropriate business environment within DoD. In addition to the actions recommended in this report, the following factors are essential for government-integrated PBL efforts to be successful: ·         Commitment of departmental headquarters, flag-level leaders for both acquisition management and logistics communities, and the warfighter to pursuing government-integrated PBL efforts. Buy-in by all stakeholders for applying the PBL approach to specific products (or product groupings). Willingness of the providers of supply support, maintenance and repair, transportation and distribution, and sustaining engineering to: work as a team to deliver integrated product support services and to embrace an outcome-based culture To institutionalize any actions taken, Defense Acquisition University (DAU) trainingmaterials and the content of the DAU’s web-based Acquisition Community Connection need to be updated to reflect those actions.”