Research for Costs

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Outsourcing Opportunities for the Navy
July 1, 1996
Outsourcing is one way, although not the only way, to increase efficiency. Outsourcing, or more generally, competition (whether public or private) provides cost visibility - customers begin to see what they pay for goods and services. It also can provide alternative sources, enhance flexibility, introduce better business practices, and take advantage of emerging technologies and innovations. Outsourcing and competition are sometimes considered something new and untested, as experiments. In fact, they are not. The public sector has relied on the private sector for years. Although it is hard to write contacts for something as risky as developing and manufacturing a major weapon system, the Department of Defense (DOD) has done it repeatedly. DOD has outsourced successfully functions as complex as acquisition, and as straightforward as laundry services. This is not uncharted territory. The purpose of this paper is to take a first look at what outsourcing opportunities exist and what types of cost savings are possible. To glean some insights into implementation, we look at how one naval technical center has outsourced various functions. We consulted several databases to quantify good candidates.
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Rethinking Navy Manpower and Personnel
June 1, 1996
This study, originally suggested by the Chief of Naval Operations and sponsored by the Chief of Naval Personnel, took a look at several issues that fit broadly under two topics: are there better ways of doing business, and; can we improve our sailors' Quality of Life (QOL)? CNA's task was to do some 'out-of-the-box' thinking and come up with a variety of issues for further study, such as organizational changes, more cost-efficient approaches, and ways to improve sailors' QOL. Our mission was to probe topics that weren' t being adequately addressed because organizational responsibility was not clear-cut. This research memorandum provides a review of the issues examined and the conclusions drawn. Cleared for Open Publication by CNO ltr Ser 09N2/6U532301 of 15 Jul 1996; CNO Case No. 96-187.
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Improving Internal Navy Allocation Decisions: The Case of Military Manpower
May 1, 1996
In a period of shrinking resource, the Navy is searching for ways to reduce the costs of operating and supporting its forces. Those savings can be used to help recapitalize the Navy as the turn of the century approaches. Past efforts at reducing support costs have often focused on outsourcing or privatizing work that can be done commercially. Evidence from past research indicates that savings are available form outsourcing work and from public-private competitions. The evidence indicates that the pressure of competition, among private sector firms and between government activities and the private sector, is the source of those savings. In the Program Objectives Memorandum (POM) process, resource sponsors pay a price for each billet they authorize. The Navy has begun to include more explicit personnel costs in the POM process. This paper considers the potential for how that cost information may improve manpower resource decisions and examines broader decision-making frameworks as well.
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Implementing A-76 Competitions
May 1, 1996
As part of the Outsourcing Options study, N4 asked CNA to look across the services and DoD agencies to evaluate different practices and lessons learned in implementing A-76 procedures. Earlier work suggested that big savings are possible if the Navy chooses to start large-scale competitions. Since OMB is revising - rather than withdrawing - its A-76 policies, CNA focused on how the process could be streamlined to maximize savings. In this brief, we first review the evidence of competition savings found across DoD. We then discuss what role senior Navy leadership can play in easing implementation, as well as specific ways to streamline the process. We also suggest best contracting practices. Finally, we touch on employee transition issues.
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Utility of Ecological Risk Assessments
April 1, 1996
Ecological Risk Assessments (ERAs) are performed at hazardous waste cleanup sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) program to determine the risk that contaminants pose to the environment. A number of concerns have been expressed with respect to ERAs and other studies conducted at CERCLA sites including the following: too much effort is being spent on 'studies' instead of remedies; and remedies are largely determined on the basis of human health risk and any applicable cleanup standards in place as opposed to ecological risk. As a result of these concerns, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Environment) asked the Center for Naval Analyses to conduct a study of the utility of ecological risk assessments. This study was to review the ERA process in general and address specific issues. This report documents the results of the study.
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Training and Education Requirements for Humanitarian Assistance Operations
April 1, 1996
This briefing presents results from a study undertaken by the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) at the request of Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC) and I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF). The primary objective of the study is to identify and analyze some alternatives the Marine Corps might consider in order to improve its ability to conduct humanitarian assistance operations (HAOs). To meet this objective, we have been (1) examining ways of conducting HAOs; (2) identifying changes in organization, training and education, doctrine, and equipment and supplies that will help the marine Corps better prepare for HAOs; and (3) assessing the relative costs of these changes. This briefing focuses on identifying and analyzing the training and education requirements for Marines assigned to HAOs and suggests ways the Marine Corps might meet those requirements.
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Summary of Requirements for Humanitarian Assistance Operations
April 1, 1996
In this paper we summarize the results of a study conducted by the Center for Naval Analyses that identifies and analyzes how the Marine Corps might improve its ability to conduct Humanitarian Assistance Operations (HAOs). To achieve this objective, we (1) examined how the military has conducted HAOs in the past; (2) identified alternative ways the military can conduct these operations; and (3) assessed the relative costs of these alternatives in terms of changes in organization, training and education, doctrine and documentation, and equipment and supplies. This study is co-sponsored by the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and I Marine Expeditionary Force. We developed this summary from earlier analyses which present detailed discussions of HAO requirements and alternatives in the areas of planning, training, civil affairs and psychological operations, legal affairs, and logistics and engineering. This summary presents key results from these analyses, and integrates them into a greater whole.
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Outsourcing Opportunities for the Navy
April 1, 1996
Outsourcing is one way, although not the only way, to increase efficiency. Outsourcing, or more generally, competition (whether public or private) provides cost visibility - customers begin to see what they pay for goods and services. It also can provide alternative sources, enhance flexibility, introduce better business practices, and take advantage of emerging technologies and innovations. Outsourcing and competition are sometimes considered something new and untested, as experiments. In fact, they are not. The public sector has relied on the private sector for years. Although it is hard to write contacts for something as risky as developing and manufacturing a major weapon system, the Department of Defense (DOD) has done it repeatedly. DOD has outsourced successfully functions as complex as acquisition, and as straightforward as laundry services. This is not uncharted territory. The purpose of this paper is to take a first look at what outsourcing opportunities exist and what types of cost savings are possible. To glean some insights into implementation, we look at how one naval technical center has outsourced various functions. We consulted several databases to quantify good candidates.
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Current Housing Allowance Methodology: Anomalies and Alternatives
January 1, 1996
This analysis begins with a review of the current expenditure-based system. The system uses member survey information on housing expenditures to set the allowance rates. First, we will demonstrate how the current system should work in theory. Second, we will explore some of the problems in the current system either from its theoretical underpinnings or its method of execution. Third, we argue for a price-based alternative to the expenditure-based system. A price-based alternative uses rental prices for units of comparable size and quality to set the housing allowances for the different housing areas.
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Some New Estimates of the Navy's Indirect Manning Costs
December 1, 1995
How does a change in the manning of ships and squadrons at sea affect the Navy's shore-based manning? This question, while hardly new, has arisen recently in several different contexts. One involves cost-effectivness analyses of arsenal ships - which require relatively small crews - as alternatives to traditional surface combatants. The purpose of this paper is to provide a set of empirical estimates of the response of ashore manning to changes in manning of ships and squadrons - hereafter called afloat manning - based on the most recent time-series information available. Over the past six or seven years, the drawdowns in budgets, force structure, and manning have been substantial. Inclusion of that experience in the database from which cost-estimating relationships are developed is essential to the validity of the relationships for use in assessing the cost consequences of decisions presently or soon to be at hand. The analytical construct adopted here is a model that posits delayed adjustment of shore manning to changes in afloat manning.
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