Managing the Service Supply Chain in the Department of Defense: Implications for the Program Management Infrastructure

Abstract

The services acquisition volume in the US Department of Defense (DoD) has continued to increase in scope and dollars in the past decade. In fact, in recent years, DoD has spent more on services than on supplies, equipment and goods, even considering the high value of weapon systems and large military items. In our previous exploratory research on the challenges and opportunities in service supply chain in DoD, we concluded that although the DoD spends more on acquiring services than goods, the program management infrastructure for the acquisition of services is less developed than that for the acquisition of products and systems. In this paper, we present the findings of our current research that continues our exploration in the area of services acquisition while it focuses on the implications of applying a program management structure to services acquisition. After discussing some continuing issues in services acquisition, we develop a conceptual model of a service lifecycle that can be used to analyze and design DoD's services acquisition process. We also discuss the program management approach, identify basic project management concepts, describe how these concepts are being used in the acquisition of defense weapon systems, and recommend how they can be adapted in the acquisition of services in DoD.