Seapower Magazine Article Osprey Readiness - Navy Bell-Boeing Tackle V-22 Maintenance Challenges Through Performance-Based Logistics - DTD March 2011

This Seapower Magazine article provides an overview of the structure and strategy of the V-22 Osprey PBL product support strategy, and provides examples of how the program office leverages the PBL arrangement enhances the level of support the warfighter customers receive. According to the article, “the program and manufacturer Bell-Boeing maintain the aircraft through what is known as a performance based logistics (PBL) approach. In a PBL-type deal, the Marines contract not for goods and services, but for the contractor to meet certain performance metrics for the platform. The idea is to incentivize the contractor to keep the aircraft flying with minimal maintenance. “We’ve got a V-22 joint sustainment concept that covers a multitude of contractual vehicles and activities, including multiple PBLs,” (the V-22 program manager) said. “PBL itself is that sustainment strategy. It capitalizes on managing the supplier as opposed to the individual item, and the incentive structure is supposed to give the supplier [the incentive] to build inherent reliabilities into the product.” (The V-22 program manager) said the program also has had a “power-by-the-hour” — now referred to as “mission care” — PBL contract with engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce “since their inception,” so “we’ve got experience through the life of the program on PBL.” This article was provided by and is posted with permission from the editors of Seapower Magazine, a publication of the Navy League of the United States.