Analyzing Cost Growth in Government Acquisitions
R. Cline
The Boeing Company

This paper studies a sampling of historical programs that have experienced varying levels of cost growth. The chief purpose is to identify (common) causes; thereby offering an opportunity to make recommendations that can mitigate those causes.

This paper examines a broad range of U.S. Government procurements, spanning:

  • Technology domains that cover satellites, ships, land systems, command and control systems, etc.

  • Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy government segments

  • An epoch that starts as early as 1921 through the present

    The analysis begins with collecting publicly available documentation regarding the contract performance on a plethora of programs. The analysis principally involves gathering "causal" data; parsing and collating the causes into a manageable set of codified bins; and examining the frequency of occurrence. In the course of data collection/analysis, an assessment will be made with respect to the effectiveness of various acquisition reforms that have been instituted throughout the chronology under study. These recommendations as well as those that have been published within the 'causal' documentation will also be collated and parsed.

    The paper will conclude with a unified set of findings and recommendations.