Frank Camm

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Senior Economist
Washington Office

Education

Ph.D. and A.M. in economics, University of Chicago; A.B. in economics, Princeton University

Overview

Biography

Frank A. Camm, Jr. is a senior economist at the RAND Corporation. He currently leads projects sponsored by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and Office of the Secretary of Defense. The first seeks ways to improve the incentive environment present in major Air Force weapon system development programs. The second asks how to reduce barriers that discourage innovative, nontraditional sources from participating in U.S. efforts to develop countermeasures for radio-controlled improvised explosive devices. The third examines how changes in U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) spending on non-U.S. sources affect employment in the United States. During his 29-year career at RAND, Camm has participated in a series of efforts to implement process changes in the DoD. He led RAND's development of lean logistics and support of its implementation in the Air Force. He devised and tested metrics systems in Air Force depots and developed metrics systems for high-level oversight of Army logistics. He has studied best commercial practices in change management at first hand and developed ways to adapt these methods to the implementation of process changes in Air Force sourcing practice, DoD environmental management practice, and Army integration of its operational and institutional activities. Camm received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.

Research Focus

Recent Projects

  • How changes in the deployable part of the Army—the operational Army—affect demand for services from the nondeployable Army Generating Force
  • Improving the use of formal risk assessment tools in Air Force strategic force planning
  • Improving Air Force source selection methods and use of award fees in major acquisitions
  • How U.S. Department of Defense use of foreign sources affects employment within the United States
  • Empirical evidence on how well performance-based accountability systems work

Selected Publications

Frank Camm, Federal Agencies Can Adapt Best Commercial Practice to Improve Their Acquisition of Services, RAND Corporation (CT-261), 2006

Frank Camm and Victoria A. Greenfield, How Should the Army Use Contractors on the Battlefield? Assessing Comparative Risk in Sourcing Decisions, RAND Corporation (MG-296), 2005

Victoria A. Greenfield and Frank Camm, Risk Management and Performance in the Balkans Support Contract, RAND Corporation (MG-282), 2005

Frank Camm et al., What the Army Needs to Know to Align Its Operational and Institutional Activities, RAND Corporation (MG-530), 2003

Recent Media Appearances

Interviews: Business Week; Christian Science Monitor; Federal Times

Economics

Recent Projects

  • How changes in the deployable part of the Army or Operating Force affect demand for services from the nondeployable Army Generating Force
  • Improving the use of formal risk assessment tools in Air Force strategic force planning
  • Improving Air Force source selection methods and use of award fees in major acquisitions
  • Enhancing the Navy's ability to attract innovative sources to its programs to counter radio-controlled improvised explosive devices
  • How Department of Defense use of foreign sources affects employment within the U.S.; empirical evidence on how well performance-based accountability systems work

Selected Publications

Frank Camm, James T. Bartis and Charles Bushman, Federal Financial Incentives to Induce Early Experience Producing Unconventional Liquid Fuels, RAND Corporation (TR-586), 2008

Frank Camm, James T. Bartis, James David S. Ortiz, Producing liquid fuels from coal: prospects and policy issues, RAND Corporation (MG-754), 2008

Frank Camm, David Kassing, R. William Thomas, Carolyn Wong, How Funding Instability Affects Army Programs, RAND Corporation (MG-447-A), 2007

Frank Camm, Ralph Masi, Cynthia R. Cook, Anny Wong, What the Army Needs to Know to Align Its Operational and Institutional Activities., RAND Corporation (MG-530/1-A), 2007

Publications

Analysis of Government Accountability Office Bid Protests in Air Force Source Selections over the Past Two Decades - 2012

Government Accountability Office Bid Protests in Air Force Source Selections: Evidence and Options - 2012

Government Accountability Office Bid Protests in Air Force Source Selections: Evidence and Options — Executive Summary - 2012

Analyzing the Operation of Performance-Based Accountability Systems for Public Services - 2010

Are Performance-Based Accountability Systems Effective? Evidence from Five Sectors - 2010

Toward a Culture of Consequences: Performance-Based Accountability Systems for Public Services — Executive Summary - 2010

Toward a Culture of Consequences: Performance-Based Accountability Systems for Public Services - 2010

Managing Risk in USAF Force Planning - 2009

Assessing a Coal-to-Liquids Fuel Industry in the United States - 2008

Federal Financial Incentives to Induce Early Experience Producing Unconventional Liquid Fuels - 2008

Producing Liquid Fuels from Coal: Prospects and Policy Issues - 2008

How Funding Instability Affects Army Programs - 2007

What the Army Needs to Know to Align Its Operational and Institutional Activities - 2007

What the Army Needs to Know to Align Its Operational and Institutional Activities: Executive Summary - 2007

Commercial Purchasing and Supply Management Practices Can Help the Air Force Reduce Costs - 2006

Federal Agencies Can Adapt Best Commercial Practice to Improve Their Acquisition of Services - 2006

Civilian or Military? Assessing the Risk of Using Contractors on the Battlefield - 2005

High-Performance Government: Structure, Leadership, Incentives - 2005

How Should the Army Use Contractors on the Battlefield? Assessing Comparative Risk in Sourcing Decisions - 2005

Risk Management and Performance in the Balkans Support Contract - 2005

Recent Large Service Acquisitions in the Department of Defense: Lessons for the Office of the Secretary of Defense - 2004

Competitive Sourcing and the Morale of Federal Employees - 2003

Effective Treatment of Logistics Resource Issues in the Air Force Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System (PPBS) Process - 2003

New Challenges, New Tools for Defense Decisionmaking - 2003

Bundled Services: A Framework for Cutting Costs, Improving Performance, and Supporting Small Businesses - 2002

How Should The U.S. Air Force Depot Maintenance Activity Group Be Funded? Insights From Expenditure and Flying Hour Data - 2002

Implementing Best Purchasing and Supply Management Practices: Lessons from Innovative Commercial Firms - 2002

Strategic Appraisal: United States Air and Space Power in the 21st Century - 2002

Environmental Management in Proactive Commercial Firms: Lessons for Central Logistics Activites in the Department of Defense - 2001

Federal Contract Bundling: A Framework for Making and Justifying Decisions for Purchased Services - 2001

Implementing Proactive Environmental Management: Lessons Learned from Best Commercial Practice - 2001

Integrated Facility Environmental Management Approaches: Lessons from Industry for Department of Defense Facilities - 2001

Performance-Based Contracting in the Air Force: A Report on Experiences in the Field - 2001

Strategic Sourcing: Measuring and Managing Performance - 2000

Using Process Redesign to Improve DoD's Environmental Security Program: Remediation Program Management - 1999

Environmental Management in Design: Lessons from Volvo and Hewlett-Packard for the Department of Defense - 1998

Incentives to Undertake Sourcing Studies in the Air Force - 1998

Sourcing Decisions for Air Force Support Services: Current and Historical Patterns - 1997

Expanding Private Production of Defense Services - 1996

Barriers to Managing Risk in Large Scale Weapons System Development Programs - 1993

DoD Should Maintain Both Organic and Contract Sources for Depot-Level Logistics Services - 1993

Energy Effects of Ending the Department of Defense's Use of Chemics That Deplete Stratospheric Ozone - 1993

The Development of the F100-PW-220 and F110-GE-100 Engines: A Case Study of Risk Assessment and Risk Management - 1993

The F-16 Multinational Staged Improvement Program: A Case Study of Risk Assessment and Risk Management - 1993

When Internal Transfer Prices and Costs Differ: How Stock Funding of Depot-Level Reparables Affects Decision Making in the Air Force - 1993

Analysis of Air Force Aircraft Multiyear Procurements with Implications for the B-2 - 1991

Housing Demand and Department of Defense Policy on Housing Allowances - 1990

Evaluating Intelligence Systems that Support Deep Fires - 1989

How DoD Policy Affects Private Expenditure on Independent Research and Development: A Comparison of Empirical Studies - 1989

Future Emission Scenarios for Chemicals That May Deplete Stratospheric Ozone - 1988

Analyzing the Transitory Costs of Regulation with an Application to Toxic Chemicals - 1987

Policies for Chlorinated Solvent Waste: An Exploratory Application of a Model of Chemical Life Cycles and Interactions - 1987

Projections of Consumption of Products Using Chlorofluorocarbons in Developing Countries - 1987

An Analytic Method for Constructing Scenarios from a Subjective Joint Probability Distribution - 1986

Potential Constraints on Cumulative Global Production of Chlorofluorocarbons - 1986

Product Uses and Market Trends for Potential Ozone-Depleting Substances, 1985-2000 - 1986

Reaction to DRI Critique of Unpublished RAND Working Draft, Projected Use, Emissions, and Banks of Potential Ozone-Depleting Substances - 1986

Social Cost of Technical Control Options to Reduce Emissions of Potential ozone depleters in the United States: An Update - 1986

Consumer Surplus, Demand Functions, and Policy Analysis - 1983

Effects of a Severance Tax on Oil Produced in California: Rejoinder - 1983

Issues surrounding an oil import premium - 1983

Market Behavior Under Partial Price Controls: The Case of the Retail Gasoline Market - 1983

Regulatory Rulemaking to Implement Congressional Legislation: Lessons from the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978 - 1983

A California Oil Severance Tax: Who Gains? Who Pays? - 1982

Effects of a Severance Tax on Oil Produced in California - 1982

Resource Allocation in the Department of Defense: A Case Study of Army Aviation Maintenance - 1982

Industrial Use of Cogeneration Under Marginal Cost of Electricity Pricing in Sweden - 1981

Recent U.S. Price Controls: How Does Business Respond? - 1981

Resource Allocation Under the COWPS Price Guideline: The Case of Fixed Proportions - 1981

Gathering information on costs of service: some basic considerations for implementation of PURPA - 1979

Average Cost Pricing of Natural Gas: A Problem and Three Policy Options - 1978