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Study of Cost Overrun and Delays of Department of Defense (DoD)'s Space Acquisition Program
Proceedings of the 39th International Annual Conference of the American Society for Engineering Management (2018, Coeur d'Alene, ID)
  • Nazareen Sikkandar Basha
  • Benjamin J. Kwasa, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Christina Bloebaum
Abstract

Defense and Aerospace Systems Acquisition projects, just like any other Large-Scale Complex Engineered Systems (LSCES) experience delays and cost overrun during the acquisition process. Cost overrun and delays in LSCES are due, in part, to high complexity, size of the project, involvement of various stakeholders, organizations, political disruptions, changes in requirements and scope. These uncertainties, due to the exogenous factors, have cost the federal government billions of dollars and delays in completion of the programs. Cost estimation of federal programs is usually based on previous generations of systems produced and almost all the time the costs are underestimated. Underestimation of the cost of the programs is an endogenous factor, which results in cost overrun for any program, the behavior of the cost escalation is pre-forecasted to be normally distributed, but due to the cost overrun, the cost escalation curve may be skewed. In this paper, the authors will be studying the cost escalation and time delays of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF), a DoD's space acquisition program. The distribution of the cost and time can aid in understanding the effects of endogenous factors influencing the cost overrun and the effect of change in requirements during the acquisition process. This data will serve as a foundation for further research to create a framework, which will be used, in better forecasting of the cost of the acquisition of the programs.

Meeting Name
39th International Annual Conference of the American Society for Engineering Management: Bridging the Gap Between Engineering and Business, ASEM 2018 (2018: Oct. 17-20, Coeur d'Alene, ID)
Department(s)
Engineering Management and Systems Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
  • Acquisition,
  • Complex systems,
  • Cost overruns,
  • DoD,
  • Systems engineering
International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
978-151087464-0
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Document Version
Accepted Manuscript
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2018 American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
10-1-2018
Publication Date
01 Oct 2018
Citation Information
Nazareen Sikkandar Basha, Benjamin J. Kwasa and Christina Bloebaum. "Study of Cost Overrun and Delays of Department of Defense (DoD)'s Space Acquisition Program" Proceedings of the 39th International Annual Conference of the American Society for Engineering Management (2018, Coeur d'Alene, ID) (2018) p. 625 - 633
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/benjamin-kwasa/9/