THE POWER OF BETTER BUYING


SUCCESSES IN SAVING In its pursuit of better buying power, the Army has saved billions of dollars across the spectrum of acquisition programs, including about $709 million in procurement costs saved by executing multi- year production contracts for the CH-47F Chinook and 537 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. Here, Black Hawks and Chinooks assigned to Task Force Brawler, 4th Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment simultaneously begin a daytime mission Jan. 18 from Multinational Base Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. (Photo by SGT Scott Tant, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade)


Tis effort allowed the Army to reduce the length of the subsequent engineering and manufacturing development phase from 48 months


to 33 months, and


to challenge contractors to reduce manufacturing costs to meet a target cost of $250,000 per unit. Tis is an example of what we need to continue to do in our programs.


Our renewed emphasis on affordability analysis and caps to control cost growth has profoundly influenced our planning and execution of


current and future


acquisition programs. Te Army has already implemented affordability constraints in many programs, such as the aforementioned Joint Light Tactical


Vehicle and the Ground Combat Vehicle. Tis analysis, accomplished within and across weapon system portfolios, continues to be a major priority for me as I conduct regular program reviews with my PEO community.


I have also emphasized using Better Buying Power 2.0 to focus the role of small business in driving our innovation and fostering competition in Army Acquisition. Te Army continues to lead in this critical area. In FY12, the Army’s


small business participation


amounted to $22.1 billion, more than 27 percent of total Army spending, reflecting our commitment to small business opportunities.


‘SHOULD-COST’ EFFORTS Should-cost principles have been used to incentivize our program managers to achieve value for the warfighter while lowering cost. Over the past year, the Army has executed numerous should- cost initiatives in Acquisition Category I, II and III programs, with significant success across all three ACAT levels. We are the only service to accomplish should- cost success in all three categories.


In essence, we incentivize program


management teams to examine all cost assumptions based on the history of a given program. We


to reduce management challenge our


program management teams to seek creative ways


6


Army AL&T Magazine


April–June 2013


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168