Right sizing for government review

Abstract

The U.S. Navy has changed many of its acquisition practices. One of these changes is from performing the early design work primarily in-house, to contracting private shipyards to do the design. This change has shifted the government's role in design to a predominantly review function. Therefore, the government needs to decide what level of review should be performed, and how much this will cost in the future. This research examines the Strategic Sealift acquisition program, which was one of the first programs that employed this new acquisition strategy. The costs of the design stages are identified, and the level of review is described. This research can be compared to later programs, and possibly used as a benchmark for future programs.