Efficient Program Management (EPM)
Efficient Program Management (EPM) enables defense and aerospace systems to be delivered on time, at cost and to specifications. This workshop will discuss EPM as it is practiced both domestically and internationally.
Domestically, the Legislative and Executive branches and private sectors will present their views on the use of acquisition and procurement policy to transform the armed forces and implement EPM. From a US perspective, resources for defense and homeland security are increasingly limited relative to the demands being made on them. Other challenges include changing requirements, ensuring customer satisfaction, communications and getting decision quality up to par. The thread tying these issues together is the increasing complexity of issues – both internally and internationally. Defense leaders are expressing mounting frustrations about the complex nature of their current work environment. Ever-changing requirements are becoming a critical Department of Defense (DoD) management issue. Using EPM with disciplined, structured processes and methodologies has enabled many large-scale programs to tackle some of this complexity and volatility to provide a framework for success.
Internationally, the programs selected for discussion vary in size, dollar amount, and complexity, but all are ongoing and serve as examples of successful outcomes: the delivery of cost-effective force capability. In addition, the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program has successfully pioneered two major innovations in US-allied co-operation. First, the US allowed the allies to participate from the start of the initial design process. Second, a new procurement principle was introduced, the best-of –the-best instead of the usual fixed cost share i.e. each subsystem selected for the JSF would be the best available, instead of being selected so as to give each country a fixed share of the value of the program.
Finally, participants will learn how EPM methodologies, combined with best-of-breed technologies, can use transformation as an engine for innovation, jointness, and interoperability to better serve our future warfighters.