Jane Edwards
A Deloitte report says the total cost overrun for initiatives under the major defense acquisition program portfolio rose from $295 billion in 2008 to $468 billion in 2015.
The consulting firm said Monday the Defense Department’s MDAP portfolio in 2015 recorded a 48.3 percent growth in cost with nearly 30 months in average schedule delays.
The report is based on interviews with senior program managers from commercial and government aerospace and defense organizations and analysis of MDAP’s schedule and cost data published in DoD’s “Selected Acquisition Reports.”
“Our research indicates that over the past seven years, the problem has persisted, albeit at a decreasing rate of growth,” said Robin Lineberger, principal for the U.S. aerospace and defense practice at Deloitte Consulting.
“When looking at defense programs with the largest growth or largest declines, we find that those with the largest growth result from quantity increases, but also process inefficiencies, design and technical modifications, and major restructuring such as combining programs and changing the mix of items in a manner that delayed schedules or created cost overruns,” Lineberger added.
The study also offered suggestions to program managers on how to reduce cost overruns and schedule delays such as the identification of program requirements at an early stage, provision of incentives to program managers as well as the need to maintain baseline requirements at the start of the project.
