Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://dair.nps.edu/handle/123456789/456
Title: Cost and Time Overruns for Major Defense Acquisition Programs: An Annotated Brief
Authors: David Berteau
Guy Ben-Ari
Joachim Hofbauer
Gregory Sanders
Jesse Ellman
David Morrow
Keywords: MDAPs
Cost Overruns
Time Overruns
Inaccurate Cost Estimates
Fixed Price Contracts
Program Performance
Issue Date: 30-Apr-2011
Publisher: Acquisition Research Program
Citation: Published--Unlimited Distribution
Series/Report no.: Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs)
SYM-AM-11-053
Abstract: Cost and time overruns in Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) have become a high-profile problem attracting the interest of Congress, government, and watchdog groups. According to the GAO, the 98 MDAPs from FY2010 collectively ran $402 billion over budget and were an average of 22 months behind schedule since their first full estimate. President Obama's memorandum on government contracting of 4 March 2009 also highlighted this issue. This paper presents findings of research on the root causes of cost and schedule delays for 92 MDAPs active in 2010 and 12 cancelled programs. The results do not establish causality but they do indicate multiple notable correlations. Inaccurate cost estimates are responsible for the strongest correlation with net cost growth changes and are associated with 40% of the accumulated cost overruns. In addition, the start year has little impact on the compound annual growth rate of cost overruns. This suggests that relatively better performance of newer programs may prove illusionary as programs age. Finally, fixed price contracts appear to have relatively smaller overruns, although this may tell us more about which programs are likely to receive fixed price contracts rather than what effect fixed price contracts may have on program performance.
Description: Acquisition Management / Grant-funded Research
URI: https://dair.nps.edu/handle/123456789/456
Appears in Collections:Annual Acquisition Research Symposium Proceedings & Presentations

Files in This Item:
File SizeFormat 
SYM-AM-11-053.pdf231.74 kBAdobe PDFView/Open


Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.