We were asked the following three research questions. Background, analysis, and issues for congress may 12, 2016 open pdf 2 mb the nunnmccurdy act 10 u. H1 upgrades sar submitted to congress on july 6, 2009 for a significant nunnmccurdy breach however, in september 2009 at the request of the hasc and sasc, dod agreed to submit pb10 limited sars. Prepares root cause analyses for mdaps with nunn mccurdy breach status or when requested by senior dod officials. Issues policies, procedures, and guidance governing the conduct of performance assessment and root cause analysis by military departments and defense agencies. At the discretion of dcape, the ice may be updated during the ep. Efficacy of us legislation in military acquisition programmes. As shown in table 1, a significant nunnmccurdy breach occurs when the program acquisition unit cost or the procurement unit cost increases 15% or more over the current baseline estimate or 30% or. None of the programs on the nunn mccurdy list are surprises to the department or to congress, the official said. Ocx gets good news, right after nunnmccurdy breaking.
A program whose cost growth exceeds the statutory thresholds is said to have a nunn mccurdy breach. This research includes such topics as program manager tenure, oversight of acquisition category ii programs, framing assumptions, and programs with multiple nunn mccurdy breaches. Although 25 of these programs experienced unitcostgrowth of over 50% relative to their original baseline, the dod did not report programs as having incurred a nunn mccurdy breach because the national defense authorization act permitted the original baseline estimate to be revised to the current baseline estimate as. The apache block 3 program is on the list because the department added new aircraft to a program that was refurbishing existing aircraft. The spacebased infrared system sbirs is a consolidated system intended to meet the united states infrared space surveillance needs through the first two to three decades of the 21st century. Background, analysis, and issues for congress congressional research service 3 under current dod policy, current apbs cannot be revised just to avoid a nunn mccurdy breach. Navy for inspection and acceptance trials this month. A nunn mccurdy breach occurs when a program s unit cost exceeds certain thresholds. Accelerating dod systems fielding while avoiding a new valley of. The purpose of the act is to help control cost growth in major defense systems by holding the appropriate pentagon officials and defense contractors publicly accountable and responsible for managing costs. Dod and commercial advanced waveform developments and. One is an analysis of the nunn mccurdy breach that occurred in the joint precision approach and landing system increment1a jpals inc. The nunnmccurdy amendment or nunnmccurdy provision, introduced by senator sam nunn and congressman dave mccurdy in the united states 1982 defense authorization act and made permanent in 1983, is designed to curtail cost growth in american weapons procurement programs.
Background, analysis, and issues for congress congressional research service 3 under current dod policy, current apbs cannot be revised just to avoid a nunnmccurdy breach. Factors leading to the breach include inadequate systems engineering at program inception, and the. Mccurdy breach the selected sample includes 27 of the 41 programs since 1997 that had a nunn. Dod confirms f35 ioc delays, 50% nunnmccurdy breach. Programs continue despite cost overruns, gao says federal. For nearly 30 years, the statutory provision, known as nunn mccurdy, has been an oversight tool for congress to hold the department of defense dod accountable for cost growth on major defense programs. Trends in nunn mccurdy cost breaches for major defense acquisition programs ebook written by michael j.
Cape will conduct an ice for programs using the software acquisition pathway likely to exceed acat i or ii thresholds before the program enters the execution phase ep. Mar 29, 2011 an even higher trigger point, known as a critical breach under nunn mccurdy, occurs when costs balloon past 25 percent of the current baseline or 50 percent of the original baseline. In 2010, seven dod programs breached the nunn mccurdy prohibition, but under the law, all that has to happen is for the pentagon to explain why a given program is important. Other significant aviation systems that have had a nunn mccurdy breach in the. The small diameter bomb iis unit cost grew high enough to trigger a nunn mccurdy breach in the fall because, according to the air forces acquisition chief, the other military services and foreign partners have not bought as many as expected. Six programs certified for oversight under nunnmccurdy law. Nunn mccurdy thresholds there are two categories of breaches. Download it to your device today and never miss a beat. According to, the original atircm objective was 3,400. One is an analysis of the nunn mccurdy breach that occurred in the joint precision approach and landing system increment 1a jpals inc. No obvious cost growth trends suggest that a program might breach more than once.
Nunnmccurdy relief associated with changing programs of record to incorporate new. Small diameter bomb ii unit cost growth caused significant nunn mccurdy breach. Justia gao reports gao11295r trends in nunnmccurdy. Requires that acquisition category i pms maintain current estimates of program acquisition unit cost pauc and average procurement unit cost apuc. Management perspectives pertaining to root cause analyses. Dod certifies six programs under nunnmccurdy law breaches. The nunnmccurdy provision applies to weapons programs and. But when most of the programs that breach the threshold are deemed immune from nunn mccurdy and most defense programs go over budget, it seems to me to be more of a case of the usg biting off more than it can chew and only realizing it when you try to swallow. The program executive office, assembled chemical weapons alternatives is considered an mdap. Programs that breach more than once had technical issues that were not resolved by corrective actions taken at the first. Unit cost reporting is required to be reported quarterly in the daes. Raytheon says gps control system ocx on track to hit.
In addition to reports on major defense acquisition programs, rand, at the request of the sponsor, has researched topics related to the management of defense acquisition. The criteria for reporting nunn mccurdy breaches have been. Initial dod position was to submit sars only for programs with nunnmccurdy breaches due to limit on obligations. As a mdap, peo acwa has experienced three nunn mccurdy breaches to date. Dod releases new selected acquisition reports sars. Arena, john birkler, irv blickstein, charles nemfakos, abby doll, jeffrey a drezner, gordon t lee, megan mckernan, brian mcinnis, carter c. Trends in nunnmccurdy cost breaches for major defense. Programs in breach may be terminated if the program is not certified by the secretary of defense and restructured.
Gao11295r march 9, 2011 for nearly 30 years, the statutory provision, known as nunn mccurdy, has been an oversight tool for congress to hold the department of defense dod accountable for cost growth on major defense programs. For example, the nunn mccurdy act threatens the termination of programs upon breach of specified cost overrun thresholds. Aaa driven changes may cause nunn mccurdy breaches and are not necessarily the result of poor management. None of the programs on the nunn mccurdy list are surprises to department officials or to congress, the official said. Dod certifies 6 programs under nunnmccurdy law breaches u. Just 10 days ago the pentagon declared the program had incurred a nunn mccurdy breach. A nunn mccurdy breach occurs when a programs unit cost exceeds certain thresholds. The purpose of the act is to help control cost growth in major defense systems by holding the appropriate pentagon officials and defense contractors. Programs that breach once are not more likely to breach a second time. Dod decision breathes new life into critical ocx satellite program. The purpose of the statute was to provide congress greater visibility into major defense programs cost growth and to encourage dod to manage and control cost growth. Background, analysis, and issues for congress kindle edition by moshe schwartz. A program whose cost growth exceeds the statutory thresholds is said to have a nunnmccurdy breach.
However, the navy is reporting the breach for transparency purposes. Trends in nunn mccurdy cost breaches for major defense acquisition programs dear mr. We previously discussed nunnmccurdy limits in this article. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the nunnmccurdy act. Cape may, in its discretion, delegate the authority for the conduct of the cost estimate to the sca. Dod officials notified congress that the programs were in nunn mccurdy breach 90 days ago. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Root cause analyses of nunnmccurdy breaches, volume 1. In 1983, the nunn mccurdy act was passed into law by the u. Example programs include the warfighter information network tactical wint, advanced anti.
Nunn mccurdy breaches in major defense acquisition programs. As shown in table 1, a significant nunn mccurdy breach occurs when the program acquisition unit cost paucdefined as the total cost of development, procurement, and construction divided by the. Ppt apb, sar, and nunnmccurdy status powerpoint presentation free to view id. The program then suffered a nunn mccurdy breach in 2002, when costs rose steeply on the first ship of the class, and there were some questions as to whether the program. Programs with multiple breaches did share some common characteristics. Two billion dollar ddg cost growth explained usni news. Accelerating dod systems fielding while avoiding a new. Identify the reporting vehicles for statutory unit cost reporting. Nunnmccurdy thresholds there are two categories of breaches.
The program has already experienced one nunn mccurdy act breach in 2010. Military and naval science defense programs military procurement laws, regulations and rules management. The sar total acquisition cost and quantity table contains. Jul 12, 2016 a nunn mccurdy breach notifies congress of major cost overruns on major defense acquisition programs. In addition, air force officials steering the multiservice program within days officially will notify congress it suffered a unit cost breach of more than 50 percent triggering a socalled nunn mccurdy recertification to congress, militaryprocurement brass told. However, ritschels 2012 analysis of nunn mccurdy breaches reveals that. Nunn mccurdy unit cost breaches to the program acquisition unit cost pauc or average procurement unit cost apuc of 25% or more compared to the current apb or 50% or more compared to the original apb significant breach require notification to congress and submission of a sar to congress explaining the causes of the breach. Exceeding these thresholds is known as a nunnmccurdy breach. A program that experiences cost growth exceeding any of the established thresholds is said to have a nunn mccurdy breach. Trends in nunn mccurdy cost breaches for major defense acquisition programs gao id. When that happens, dod must notify congress of the breach. Amendment to title 10 introduced by senator sam nunn and congressman dave mccurdy in the national defense authorization act ndaa for fiscal year fy 1982.
Nunnmccurdy terms may complicate gps ocx money fix inside gnss. Leverages the capabilities of a variety of product support providers. In 2007, dod certified the acwa program to congress under the four conditions specified by the act. Decisions made during program execution as a root cause of. Government accountability office investigators found 74 breaches in 47 major defense acquisition programs since 1997, the earliest date available in dod databases.
Nunn mccurdy unit cost breaches to the program acquisition. The criteria for reporting nunn mccurdy breaches have been modified several times since the 1982 act. Major weapon system acquisition senate armed services. Marines wont cut planned f35 buy totals for now, but.
Dod notified congress that the programs were in nunn mccurdy breach 90 days ago. The law requires department of defense dod acquisition programs and other largescale federal gov. Table 4 statutory program breach and change definitions. Raytheon says gps control system ocx on track to hit revised milestones. The nunn mccurdy amendment or nunn mccurdy provision, introduced by senator sam nunn and congressman dave mccurdy in the united states 1982 defense authorization act and made permanent in 1983, is designed to curtail cost growth in american weapons procurement programs.
If a program manager believes a program has experienced a breach, he or she is required to submit a unit cost report that includes. The nunn mccurdy process can be a useful mechanism for holding programs accountable for cost growth and restructuring them in the wake of cost growth. Correspondence issued by the government accountability office with an abstract that begins for nearly 30 years, the statutory provision, known as nunn mccurdy, has been an oversight tool for congress to hold the department of defense dod accountable for cost growth on major defense programs. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read trends in nunn mccurdy cost breaches for major defense acquisition programs. Management perspectives pertaining to root cause analyses of. The integrated defensive electronic countermeasures idecm blocks 23 program suffered a critical nunn mccurdy breach, with an increase of almost 2. The sasc, in its markup for the 2017 defense policy bill, cited a cost growth of 186 percent for program acquisition unit cost over the original baseline estimate. Nunnmccurdy breach breaking defense defense industry. The pentagon declared a nunn mccurdy breach for the operational control system ocx program this june after costs increased by more than 25 percent over projections.
Pricetag for pentagons major weapon systems grows by 10. A critical nunn mccurdy breach was declared in april 2011. Management perspectives pertaining to root cause analyses of nunn mccurdy breaches volumes 6. Mar 09, 2011 for nearly 30 years, the statutory provision, known as nunnmccurdy, has been an oversight tool for congress to hold the department of defense dod accountable for cost growth on major defense programs. Whenever the program has a nunn mccurdy unit cost breach d.
The nunn mccurdy provision set forth in the national defense authorization act for fy 1982 is designed to address unwarranted cost escalation in defense acquisition programs by requiring formal notification to congress of cost growth above designated thresholds. This thursday insider daily digest has news on the small diameter bomb ii program suffering a nunn mccurdy cost breach, the air forces nc3 modernization efforts and more the air forces small diameter bomb ii program has suffered a nunn mccurdy cost breach. A nunnmccurdy breach occurs when a programs unit cost exceeds certain thresholds. This new process has merit, as our analysis shows that nearly 40 percent of nunnmccurdy breaches occurred after a production decision had been madewhen a program has fewer options for restructuring. Mccurdy breaches in four of six major defense acquisition programs that had.
As long as the ffrdcs have access to the damir system, they will download their. Are programs that have a nunn mccurdy breach more likely to breach again. Correspondence issued by the government accountability office with an abstract that begins for nearly 30 years, the statutory provision, known as nunnmccurdy, has been an oversight tool for congress to hold the department of defense dod accountable for cost growth on major defense programs. Contractor motivastions and anticpating breaches volume 6 9780833087393. Dod plans to propose a legislative amendment to reduce several statutory requirements added in 2009 for nunnmccurdy breaches.
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