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THE ARTS CHILD POLICY CIVIL JUSTICE EDUCATION ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS NATIONAL SECURITY POPULATION AND AGING PUBLIC SAFETY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SUBSTANCE ABUSE TERRORISM AND HOMELAND SECURITY TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE AND WORKPLACE This product is part of the RAND Corporation monograph series. RAND monographs present major research findings that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND monographs undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity. Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints on Department of Defense Acquisition An Empirical Analysis Jeffrey A. Drezner, Irv Blickstein, Raj Raman, Megan McKernan, Monica Hertzman, Melissa A. Bradley, Dikla Gavrieli, Brent Eastwood NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH INSTITUTE Prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense Approved for public release; distribution unlimited The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. R ® is a registered trademark. © Copyright 2007 RAND Corporation All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from RAND. Published 2007 by the RAND Corporation 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 1200 South Hayes Street, Arlington, VA 22202-5050 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2665 RAND URL: http://www.rand.org/ To order RAND documents or to obtain additional information, contact Distribution Services: Telephone: (310) 451-7002; Fax: (310) 451-6915; Email: order@rand.org The research described in this report was prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). The research was conducted in the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the OSD, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community under Contract W74V8H-06-C-0002. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Measuring the statutory and regulatory constraints on Department of Defense acquisition : an empirical analysis / Jeffrey A. Drezner [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-8330-4176-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. United States. Dept. of Defense—Procurement—Evaluation. 2. United States. Dept. of Defense—Rules and practice. I. Drezner, Jeffrey A. II. United States. Dept. of Defense. III. Title: Measuring the statutory and regulatory constraints on DoD acquisition, an empirical analysis. UC263.M419 2006 355.6'2120973—dc22 2007030594 iii Preface Over the past two decades, the Department of Defense (DoD) has been striving to make acquisition-related statutes and regulations less burdensome to program offices. Many studies have focused on the costs of doing business with DoD, but few have attempted to quantify the actual cost of compliance. e Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (OUSD/AT&L) requested RAND National Defense Research Institute (NDRI) to quantify the impact of statutes and regulations that are burdensome to program offices. RAND approached this overall research project by (1) identifying which statutes and regulations are perceived as burdensome, (2) developing and vali- dating a methodology to quantify that burden, (3) collecting quantifiable information from program offices, and (4) suggesting relief measures to alleviate the burdensome tasks where possible. is report presents the results of this research. Details of the methodology are discussed in a separate report. 1 is report should be of interest to program offices, program executive offices within the Military Services, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Congress, and contractors with an interest in acquisition policy, processes, and reform. is research was sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (OUSD/AT&L) and conducted within the Acquisition and Technology Policy Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community. For more information on RAND’s Acquisition and Technology Policy Center, contact the Director, Philip Antón. He can be reached by email at atpc-director@rand. org; by phone at 310-393-0411, extension 7798; or by mail at the R AND Corporation, 1776 Main Street, Santa Monica, California 90407-2138. More information about RAND is available at www.rand.org. 1 Drezner et al., 2006. v Contents Preface iii Figures vii Tables ix Summary xi Acknowledgments xv Abbreviations xvii CHAPTER ONE Introduction 1 Background and Objectives 1 e Hypothesis 3 Report Organization 4 CHAPTER TWO Methodology Revisited 7 Overview and Processes 8 Program Selection and Descriptions 8 Data Collection 10 Data Cleaning and Coding 13 Caveats 15 CHAPTER THREE Results by Statutory and Regulatory Area 17 Aggregate Results 17 Clinger-Cohen Act and Information Management 21 Core Law and 50-50 Rule 23 Program Planning and Budgeting 25 Program Status Reporting 28 Testing 30 Other 33 Sensitivity Analysis 34 vi Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints on Department of Defense Acquisition CHAPTER FOU R Special Interest Results 37 An Individual’s Time 37 Senior and Nonsenior Participants 39 For Whom Was the Activity Performed? 43 Discrete Events and Processes 44 DAB-level Interim Program Review Activity 48 Restructuring a Major Modification Program 51 CHAPTER FIVE Conclusions 55 Comparison with Similar Research 57 Policy Implications and Recommendations 59 Suggested Areas for Future Research 61 APPENDIX A Program Data by Statutory and Regulatory Area 63 Bibliography 79 vii Figures 1.1 e Hypothesis Being Tested 3 3.1 Compliance Level of Effort as a Percentage of Total Available Hours 18 3.2 Distribution of Time Spent Across Regulatory Areas (1) 18 3.3 Distribution of Time Spent Across Regulatory Areas (2) 19 3.4 Program Office Effort in the CCA Regulatory Area 21 3.5 Program Office Effort in the Core Law and 50-50 Rule Regulatory Area 24 3.6 Program Office Effort in the PPB Regulatory Area 26 3.7 Level of Effort for What-if Exercises 27 3.8 Program Office Effort in the PSR Regulatory Area 29 3.9 Level of Effort for PSR “Other” 30 3.10 Program Office Effort in the Testing Regulatory Area 31 3.11 Program Office Effort in the “Other” Regulatory Area 33 4.1 Proportion of Time Spent on Compliance Activities by Each Study Participant (1) 38 4.2 Proportion of Time Spent on Compliance Activities by Each Study Participant (2) 39 4.3 Total Senior-Level and Nonsenior-Level Hours by Regulatory Area Across All Seven Programs 41 4.4 Senior-Level versus Nonsenior-Level Cumulative Person-Equivalents by Program 42 4.5 DAB IPR Activity, Program A 51 4.6 Restructuring a Major Modification, Program G 54 5.1 Debunking the Myth 56 [...]... throughout the research and writing phases Any errors are the responsibility of the authors xv Abbreviations ACAT Acquisition Category AoA Analysis of Alternatives APB Acquisition Program Baseline ASN RDA Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Acquisition, and Development ASR Acquisition Strategy Report AT&L Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics C4ISP Command, Control, Communication, Computers, and. .. subsequent analysis 14 Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints on Department of Defense Acquisition On the final page of the Web-based input form, two general text fields captured additional information that a participant might want to convey about that period One was a simple text box labeled “general comments,” intended for the participant to provide comments on any issue of concern The second... to the program managers and staff of the seven programs that participated in the field portion of the study reported here Their continuous participation over a 12-month period and their willingness to provide information on the what, why, and how of compliance activities were exceptional This research would not have been possible without their cooperation in providing the information we asked for and their... strategy to the unique features of its environment and to reduce the costs of oversight Rigidity in statutes and regulations can be thought of as the opposite extreme—mandating specific management approaches and oversight procedures Program managers often complain that the periods of relative rigidity constrain their ability to manage their program effectively, and that they impose real, non-value-added costs... interviews conducted with a wide range of acquisition process stakeholders (program managers and staff, PEOs, Service functional staff, OSD functional staff, and congressional research organizations) resulted in the identification of five statutory and regulatory areas to study in Phase 2 of the project: • Clinger-Cohen Act (CCA), which encompasses management of information technology (IT); • Core Law and 5 0-5 0... program managers to tailor their program’s acquisition strategy to the unique features of its environment and to reduce the costs of oversight Rigidity in statutes and regulations mandates specific management approaches and oversight procedures Program managers often complain that the periods of relative rigidity constrain their ability to manage their program effectively and impose real, non-value-added... additional insight to policy makers in the acquisition community as they weigh the advantages and disadvantages of acquisition process streamlining initiatives Acknowledgments We extend our gratitude and appreciation to all the program office staff, Service personnel, and Office of the Secretary of Defense and industry officials who gave their time and insights in support of this research Special thanks are... a 12-month reporting time frame was a difficult task In each program, we were assisted by a single point of contact (POC) who was designated by the program manager as the liaison between the participating program office staff and the RAND research team These POCs encouraged their 12 Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints on Department of Defense Acquisition Table 2.1 Summary Participation at... Regulatory Constraints on Department of Defense Acquisition Based on numerous anecdotes associated with this cause -and- effect assertion, the acquisition community appears to believe that significant time is spent complying with non-value-added statutory and regulatory requirements, resulting in significant consequences for the programs Most often those consequences are expressed as time lost waiting for the necessary... of ce activities are governed by myriad statutes and regulations These statutes and regulations place constraints on programs Program of ces spend a significant amount of time complying A significant amount of that compliance time is wasteful or unproductive There are real consequences to programs because of that burden RAND MG56 9-1 .1 5 Drezner et al., 2006 4 Measuring the Statutory and Regulatory Constraints . W74V8H-06-C-0002. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Measuring the statutory and regulatory constraints on Department of Defense acquisition : an empirical analysis. Combatant Commands, the Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community under Contract W74V8H-06-C-0002. Library