Reducing the Cost of Purchased Services: How Can the Air Force Measure Success?

10.7249/rb128 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad Shirley ◽  
John Ausink ◽  
Laura Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
Air Force ◽  
The Cost

Evolution of Cost/Schedule Control (Direct Labor) in Naval Shipyards

1993 ◽  
Vol 9 (03) ◽  
pp. 245-253
Author(s):  
Scott N. Gessis
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Air Force ◽  
Department Of Defense ◽  
Reliable Data ◽  
Schedule Control ◽  
Control Concept ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cost

The evolution of a cost/schedule control system (C/SCS) for direct labor in naval shipyards can be traced from the cost/schedule control concept used in the Air Force in the 1960s as an initiative toward more reliable data. Subsequent C/SCS programs were initiated across the Department of Defense (DoD) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As private shipyards came under what is known as cost/ schedule control system criteria (C/SCSC), and its validation requirements, the issue of C/SCS in naval shipyards rose to the surface. In 1984, the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) issued a directive which called for C/SCS implementation in naval shipyards. Expanded use and standardization has followed. This paper reviews basic C/SCS principles, how naval shipyards have used C/SCS in improving performance, and how it has been standardized while still retaining a degree of flexibility.

An Experimental Evaluation of a Method for Simplifying Electronic Maintenance

1971 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas K. Elliott ◽  
Reid P. Joyce
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Air Force ◽  
Test Equipment ◽  
Scoring Methods ◽  
Hand Tools ◽  
School Students ◽  
Training Time ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Cost

Two groups of subjects solved the same set of 13 troubleshooting and repair problems in seven solid-state-circuit modules which contained as many as five stages each. Both groups used the same hand tools and test equipment. One group was composed of 41 conventionally trained Air Force 5-and 7-level technicians who normally maintain such equipment as part of their Jobs. The technicians used the same troubleshooting techniques they ordinarily used on their jobs, and they were provided with a performance aid resembling an Air Force technical order. The other group was composed of 20 high-school students with no prior training or experience in electronics. Their training for this study consisted of a 12-hour course in the use of hand tools and test equipment and in the use of the proceduralized troubleshooting aid evaluated in this study. The aid indicated which check to make based upon the outcome of previous checks. Using the proceduralized troubleshooting aid, the high-school students took significantly less troubleshooting time than did the experienced technicians using normal techniques; however, the technicians required significantly less repair time and made significantly fewer errors than did the students. These differences may be accounted for in part by differences in the tasks and scoring methods for the two groups, and there were no differences between the two groups on a number of other measures. However, the difference in training time and, therefore, cost of training between the two groups was so great as to suggest the possibility that job-relevant training and proceduralization of the task can introduce substantial savings, even after the cost of developing the special performance aids required by proceduralized troubleshooting is subtracted.

The Economics of Agricultural Aviation in New Zealand

1966 ◽  
Vol 70 (671) ◽  
pp. 1025-1025
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Air Force ◽  
Chemical Balance ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Large Aircraft

Until the middle of this century farmers had been benefiting from New Zealand's 31 million acres of pastureland without applying any fertiliser to the soil.During 1948-49 the Government realised the urgent requirement for aerial fertilising to restore this soil to its correct chemical balance and the Royal New Zealand Air Force was made responsible for research, and extensive fertilising was undertaken with large aircraft, such as the DC-3. The work was charged for on a “county” basis and thus the cost was eased by the local rates.

Risk management of asymmetrical hearing impairment in an armed forces population

2000 ◽  
Vol 114 (5) ◽  
pp. 345-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. M. Caldera ◽  
C. R. Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Air Force ◽  
Medical Records ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Royal Air Force ◽  
Sensorineural Hearing Impairment ◽  
Management Principle ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mri ◽  
The Cost

The prevalence of asymmetrical hearing impairment in the entire service population (1490 individuals) of a Royal Air Force flying station was estimated from routine audiometric testing recorded in individuals’ medical records. Criteria for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning to exclude the possibility of vestibular schwannoma were determined in accordance with the risk management principle that the cost of the screening should not exceed the value of the likely benefit. MRI scanning should be carried out in the presence of an asymmetrical sensorineural hearing impairment of (a) 15 dB or more at two adjacent frequencies, or (b) 15 dB or more averaged over 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 kHz.

scholarly journals A Methodology for Estimating the Cost of Educating Military Physicians at the Uniformed Services University

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Patrick Luan ◽  
James Bishop ◽  
Jamie Lindly ◽  
George Prugh ◽  
Sarah K John
Keyword(s):  
Medical School ◽  
Air Force ◽  
Department Of Defense ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Operating Environment ◽  
Personnel Costs ◽  
School Of Medicine ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Military Physicians ◽  
Time Use Surveys

Abstract Introduction The Department of Defense (DoD) operates a large, multi-channeled physician accession pipeline to maintain a professional workforce of over 10,000 active duty physicians. The Uniformed Services University (USU) operates the nation’s only federal medical school providing trained doctors to the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Public Health Service. Although the school serves an essential purpose, policymakers question the cost of operating the University’s medical school. One challenge is to develop reproducible and transparent costing methods that can be used to evaluate the University’s value and efficiency. Methods This work proposes a replicable methodology for estimating the cost per student-year at USU. Using detailed data from USU encompassing facility use, budgeting and expenditures, and faculty and student rosters, we break out and attribute costs to the University’s component schools. Using faculty and staff time-use surveys, we further break out education-related personnel costs from other University activities such as research and service. We can then calculate the School of Medicine’s annual cost to educate a uniformed physician. Results In Fiscal Year 2017, it cost the DoD approximately $253,000 per year (more than $1 million dollars total over a 4-year curriculum) to directly educate a physician though the USU School of Medicine. Data from the following Fiscal Year show that education costs grew a modest 2.1% per student-year. Conclusions This work provides a foundational framework and approach to estimate the costs of accessioning a physician at USU. This methodology can be replicated for subsequent value analyses of physician accession and retention as budgetary pressures change to match the DoD operating environment. Uniformed Services University’s costs should be periodically reassessed against those of alternative accession sources.

scholarly journals The cost of peacekeeping: Canada

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross Fetterly
Keyword(s):  
Air Force ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Operations Planning ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Future Needs ◽  
Hidden Cost ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Overseas Deployment

The article briefly reports on the funding of Canadian peacekeeping activities and outlines the shift toward peacekeeping operations in Canadian defense activity and expenditure since 1989. It then analyzes equipment deployed or readied in support of deployment overseas, especially with regard to the Canadian Air Force. It finds that the costs that make overseas deployment possible are substantial and form a major hidden cost of peacekeeping that, in future, needs to be made explicit to properly guide defense and peace operations planning and budgeting.

Family Matters: Trauma and the Legacy of War in James Allen Moad II’s Outside Paducah: The Wars at Home

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-262
Author(s):  
Andrea Roxana Bellot
Keyword(s):  
Air Force ◽  
Open Wound ◽  
The Core ◽  
Cost Of War ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Military ◽  
Effects Of War ◽  
American Nation ◽  
At Home

Abstract Outside Paducah: The Wars at Home (2016), a play written and performed solo by James Allen Moad II, a former Air Force pilot, explores the enduring effects of war on American veterans and their families after soldiers return home from the battleground. The play moves beyond the individual representation of a traumatized veteran by addressing two intertwined issues: the collective and transgenerational burden of war, both in the form of physical wounds and/or moral injuries. Outside Paducah contributes to promoting the stage as a dynamic place to think about the war legacy and to question and challenge war itself by stressing the importance of understanding the cost of war on both personal and societal levels. The play shows that the scenes of war fought in foreign lands are brought back to the home territories and families, who become equally demoralised by the perpetuation of war in their homelands. The soldiers return as ghosts of their previous selves and haunt their families and friends from one generation to the next. Therefore, war remains an open wound at the core of the American nation. At the same time, the play sheds some light on the harsh realities of the underprivileged and how joining the military often seems to provide a way out of the world of poverty and lack of resources.

Navy High-Pressure Waterjet Closed-Loop Paint Stripping System

1996 ◽  
Vol 12 (01) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
John Williams ◽  
Robert M. Rice
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Air Force ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
Safety Standards ◽  
Marine Coatings ◽  
Pressure Water ◽  
Paint Stripping ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Naval Surface Warfare ◽  
The U.S

The marine refurbishment industry currently utilizes abrasive blasting for hull coatings removal. These processes generate extreme amounts of waste material, which must be contained and disposed of properly. The cost of containment, the hazardous work environment and the amounts of hazardous waste produced are all significant disadvantages of the existing processes. Additionally, environmental regulations and safety standards are being introduced which demand new techniques for marine coatings removal. In light of these factors, the U.S. Navy's Naval Surface Warfare Center-Carderock Division entered into a joint initiative with the U.S. Air Force to introduce an alternative paint and marine growth removal method, including complete effluent recovery at the source. This system, using only high-pressure water, is semi-automatic and mobile. The system can operate independently in a dry dock without external utilities. In the end, the system will eliminate the current problems associated with coatings removal and reduce the overall operational costs.

Aerospace Engineering, University

1984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Bartman
Keyword(s):  
Air Force ◽  
Space Shuttle ◽  
Aerospace Engineering ◽  
Special Program ◽  
Air Force Academy ◽  
Engineering Department ◽  
Special Programs ◽  
Special Project ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Working Out

Actually, the project got started before I got involved. The history is something like this—after it began the Space Shuttle program, NASA began to sell payload space for various flights. One experimenter might spend a million dollars on a flight. NASA felt they wouldn’t sell all the space for major experiments and so decided to offer the leftover space to individuals, to universities, to people in industries who might want to try to do something useful in space but didn’t have that kind of money. So they came up with the Getaway Special Program. We found we could spend $5,000 and get two-and-a-half cubic feet of space and 100 pounds, or $10,000 and get five cubic feet and 200 pounds. The Aerospace Engineering Department chose the cheaper and agreed to pay the money out of department funds. Later, the Pullman Company gave us that sum for a second Getaway Special payload. That’s only part of the cost, of course. The expenses of designing and making the apparatus are additional. I was one of the original group that participated in the first consideration of the project in 1977, but wasn’t the teacher of the class. Professor Leslie Jones taught a course based on our upper-air research using rockets and balloons, which became the Getaway Special Project in 1979. At that time, unbeknownst to the rest of us, he had become ill with leukemia, and he needed the help of Professor Harm Buning in order to help him finish the semester. Soon after that Leslie Jones died. In 1981, I took over the course in the winter semester. I’m working out of a tradition established by Professor Buning, but I think I’ve gone a little bit further. One of the first things I did was to go to a symposium on Getaway Special programs at the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs. The Academy is very much interested in having students build some of these things. In presentations the students talked about what they were doing, which was essentially what we’re doing now in our course.

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