Research Brief
New Techniques Help to Estimate Systems Engineering and Program Management Costs for Military Aircraft and Guided Weapons
May 30, 2006
Systems Engineering and Program Management
Trends and Costs for Aircraft and Guided Weapons Programs
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Systems engineering and program management (SE/PM) constitute a large portion of the acquisition cost of military aircraft and guided weapons systems. The goal of this study was the development of a set of cost-estimating relationships that can be used to estimate the SE/PM cost element for development and production of aircraft and weapons programs. The authors canvassed government and industry personnel to learn about current techniques for estimating SE/PM costs, and they collected historical data from several aircraft and weapons programs to investigate trends in SE/PM costs over time and to generate methods that cost analysts can use early in the life cycle of a program when little cost information is available. The authors also investigated the effects on SE/PM costs from acquisition reform, including the reduction in the number of military specifications and standards, the use of integrated product and process teams, and the trend toward “evolutionary acquisition.”
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Introduction
Chapter Two
Defining Systems Engineering and Program Management
Chapter Three
Cost Trends in Systems Engineering and Program Management
Chapter Four
Cost Data Findings and Current Estimating Approaches
Chapter Five
Analytic Approach for Estimating SE/PM Costs
Chapter Six
How New Acquisition Practices Will Affect SE/PM Cost Estimates
Chapter Seven
Conclusions
Appendix A
Relationship of Systems Engineering to the Acquisition Life-Cycle Process
Appendix B
MIL-HDBK-881 Excerpt: Definitions of SE/PM for Cost Reporting
Appendix C
Contractor Questionnaire
Appendix D
Variables Used in Developing CERs
Appendix E
Statistical Correlations for SE/PM CER Variables
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The research reported here was sponsored by the United States Air Force and conducted by RAND Project AIR FORCE.
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