A Review and Comparative Study of Management Concepts Used by Department of Defense

It is the intent of this paper to review the Acquisition Management SysternVProgram Management concepts of the major Armed Services comprising the Department of Defense (DOD), Army, Navy and the Air Force, and the System Management process associated with System Acquisition. As such, this paper reviews highlights of the DOD Program Management Acquisition Management Systems. The study is closely related to the writer\u27s position at Naval Training Equipment Center. Being a DOD employee and operating in a technical environment, specifically in a position of employing the Program Management concept to in-house major tasks the need for more fully understanding and employing the concepts of Government Programs Management was clearly dictated. At the offset this approach seemed reasonable; however, as the research matured via an intensive literary search a dichothorny in the acquisition System Management process was uncovered. It was also discovered that Government guidelines are undergoing considerable changes, and it became necessary to expend a considerable effort to obtain copies of the applicable material. Research of available reference material was limited to that applicable to Weapon System Acquisition in the pre David Packard era and post David Packard era. Each of the technical management concepts of the Armed Services was reviewed and a summary of each prepared such that a comparative analysis of the three methods could be conducted. The research material was obtained with the assistance of the Navy Technical Library and through purchase of the material from the U. S. Govermnent Printing Office. Every effort has been made to obtain copies of all documents referenced in the Matrix of Major Subsystems and applicable documents of the Department of Defense Acquisition System. These documents are available from this researcher upon request