Expanding Private Production of Defense Services

Frank Camm

ResearchPublished 1996

Among other topics, the Commission on Roles and Missions of the Armed Forces considered whether the Department of Defense (DoD) should contract out — outsource — support services that DoD now produces in-house and, if so, (1) which services DoD should outsource and (2) what DoD can do to make outsourcing more cost-effective. This report reviews a set of issues relevant to these questions. The report first reviews barriers and objections to outsourcing that have been raised by earlier studies and government commissions that have addressed outsourcing. It then reviews insights from commercial-sector experience with outsourcing that DoD could use to guide its own actions on outsourcing. Finally, it offers suggestions about how to structure an implementation plan for large-scale outsourcing of support services. In particular, it identifies the attributes of support activities that DoD should consider outsourcing first and how DoD could facilitate an outsourcing program.

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Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 1996
  • Pages: 68
  • Document Number: MR-734-CRMAF

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Camm, Frank, Expanding Private Production of Defense Services. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1996. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR734.html.
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The research was conducted within the National Security Research Division of RAND's National Defense Research Institute (NDRI). NDRI is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, and the defense agencies.

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