‘SHOULD’ DOES


BLACK HAWK (COSTS) DOWN


Paratroopers assigned to 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division take up a defensive position during an air assault using UH-60 Black Hawks at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, LA, Nov. 2, 2015. PEO Aviation’s Project Manager for Utility Helicopters realized significant cost savings and avoidance through the ongoing multiyear contract for the UH-60M Black Hawk, a significant indicator of success for the Army’s implementation of should-cost. (U.S. Army photo by SSG Jared Gehmann)


of the acquisition life cycle that target contracting activities. Te questions that PARCA now wants to explore are why these results are occurring, and if we are missing opportunities to implement suc- cessful initiatives in other phases of the life cycle and by targeting other acquisi- tion processes. In other words, are these results unique to 2015?


One possible answer is that many of the Army’s largest acquisition programs are currently executing multiyear produc- tion contracts awarded in prior years. In this circumstance, the PEO and project manager take credit for the cost savings and avoidance in the year the contract is awarded, and the benefits are seen at that time rather than in later years. For


104 Army AL&T Magazine January-March 2016


example, the PEO for Aviation and its Project Manager


for Utility Helicop-


ters realized significant cost savings and avoidance through the ongoing multi- year contract for the UH-60M Black Hawk program, including $93.1 million in FY14. Similarly, the TOW 2 missile program accrued large cost savings and avoidance through a multiyear contract awarded for FY12 through FY16. Te cost avoidance allowed the Army to reprogram funds from the TOW 2 pro- gram to other Army priorities. Tese results were booked in prior years even though the benefits would occur years after the initial award of the contract.


Te more challenging question is why programs do not pursue should-cost


initiatives or find success in other phases of the acquisition life cycle and in other target activities. In both FY14 and FY15, the target processes of JCIDS require- ments, oversight and review and test and evaluation, yielded relatively small cost savings or avoidance for the Army despite the fact that program managers implemented nearly as many initiatives as in the contracting and production areas.


Is the lack of results in these areas a function of PEOs and project managers claiming success for initiatives in prior years? Have they, in essence, already har- vested all of the low-hanging fruit? If this is the case, will we see new opportunities for initiatives in these areas as the Army


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