Report
Implementing Best Purchasing and Supply Management Practices: Lessons from Innovative Commercial Firms
Jan 1, 2002
Format | File Size | Notes |
---|---|---|
PDF file | 0.1 MB | Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 10 or higher for the best experience. |
The Air Force is under pressure to maintain or improve performance while reducing costs so that it can pay for new weapon systems, force structure, and personnel-retention initiatives. Purchased goods and services—which accounted for 45 percent of the Air Force's expenditures in fiscal year 2004—are an important place to look for such savings. RAND Project AIR FORCE (PAF) research suggests that the Air Force can benefit from the experiences of innovative commercial firms, which have reduced their own expenditures by adopting new approaches to purchasing and supply management (PSM). Three findings are of particular importance to the Air Force:
The Air Force has an opportunity to dramatically improve performance and reduce the cost of its purchased goods and services. Taking advantage of this opportunity will require significant changes in the way the Air Force thinks about its structure and manages its resources from day to day. For example, acquisition personnel accustomed to working at the tactical level will require more analytic skills and higher levels of education. Some can get this from training. Others will need to be hired. The Air Force may need to develop strategies to overcome people's natural tendency to protect their own functions and to reward people for their participation on teams. The experience of commercial firms suggests that such changes can yield substantial benefits in the areas of both performance and cost.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation Research brief series. RAND research briefs present policy-oriented summaries of individual published, peer-reviewed documents or of a body of published work.
This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.