Defense Acquisition Research Journal #91

Complexity in an Unexpected Place: Quantities in Selected Acquisition Reports

https://www.dau.edu

FIGURE 3. IDECM BLOCK 2/3 ANNUAL UNIT COST BY APPROPRIATION TYPE FROM DECEMBER 2015 SAR

$10,000,000

$1,000,000

Average Cost for Units Purchased with '1506' Funds

Average Cost for Units Purchased with '1508' Funds

$100,000

$10,000

1990

2000

2010

2020

2030

2040

2050

2060

Fiscal Year

Even though showing two unit costs on the same chart requires plotting themon a logarithmic scale, the two are both considered units for the ofcial unit cost calculation. Just within the more expensive 1506 units, clearly, signifcant changes are evident, as the cost therein does not follow a typical learning shape, which would be expected to slope downward. While the details have changed with time, the IDECM program has used this reporting system since it issued its frst SAR in June 2008. Reporting Accidents The confusions described in the previous section generally come about because of some decision by leadership about how the data should be pre- sented; 5 this category, in contrast, is about cases in which it seems outright errors were also evident in how the quantity numbers were determined. We do not know how frequently this happens, but we know that it happens and can persist for several years. We do not suggest that any of the cases described in the following discussion involve intent to confuse people, but they did have that efect.

40

Defense ARJ, January 2020, Vol. 27No. 1 : 28-59

Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog