Research for Lessons Learned

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Rightsourcing Lessons Learned
May 1, 1997
CNA prepared this briefing for the Department of the Navy's Rightsourcing Process Action Team, under the auspices of the Total Ownership Cost Goal Management Board of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development, and Acquisition) (ASN(RD&A)). In this briefing, we review the background of the study and our approach, identify those companies and activities that participated in our study, summarize the factors that we found affect rightsourcing decisions, and describe our key findings.
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A Privatization Primer: Issues and Evidence
January 1, 1997
This study was sponsored by the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Logistics (N4) who asked us to assemble the lessons learned in outsourcing and privatization. Earlier work for this study identified new opportunities for the Navy and identified initial lessons learned at a Navy technical center. This study also identified specific ways to streamline the competition process required by OMB Circular A-76, and initial findings of five outsourcing and competition case studies reported in earlier reports issued from this project. In this final report, we focus on privatization, as distinct from outsourcing. We make the distinction clearer in the body of the paper. For this report, we reviewed the economics literature to determine whether (and if so, why) public sector firms are inherently less efficient that private sector firms. We conducted case studies of the office of Personnel Management (OPM) privatization of its background investigations unit, and the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) - Indianapolis privatization. We also examined the competition program run by the City of Indianapolis for many of its city services, including the outsourcing of the local wastewater treatment plant. Finally, we collected information on other privatization, both in the United States and abroad.
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A Survey of Privatization and Outsourcing Initiatives
December 1, 1996
The debate continues as to whether use of the private sector really lowers cost. Some opponents say that outsourcing and privatizaiton actually increase costs, but experience argues the opposite. In this report, we survey selected recent initiatives on privatization, competition, and outsourcing in both government and nongovernment sectors. We draw from a variety of publications and reports by the Defense Science Board, the Commission on Roles and Missions, and the General Accounting Office, as well as CNA's prior work and the work of other research organizations.
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Synopsis of Information Requirements in Future Medical Operations
November 1, 1996
This CNA annotated briefing (CAB) summarizes the findings of the Information Requirements in Future Medical Operations project, sponsored by the Deputy for Marine Corps Medical Matters (N093M). This CAB is a synopsis of the project and focuses on the implications of our research rather than the methodological details of how we reached our conclusions.
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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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USCGC Dallas Med/Black Sea Deployment: Regional Engagement and USCG-USN Interoperability
January 1, 1996
COMSIXTHFLT received several requests from littoral nations for training and interaction in maritime law enforcement, maritime interception, search and rescue, fisheries protection, and other coastal patrol operations. In response, COMSIXTHFLT requested that a U.S. Coast Guard cutter deploy to the Mediterranean and Black Sea from 29 May through 28 August 1995. USCGC DALLAS (WHEC 716) subsequently visited seven nations: Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Tunisia, Slovenia, Italy, and Albania. COMSIXTHFLT requested that a CNA analyst be embarked on USCGC DALLAS to assess the cutter's regional engagement role vis-a-vis U.S. Navy units and to identify analytic issues regarding USCG-USN interpretability. This report examines USCGC DALLAS's operational role during battle-group operations and identifies a number of issues that affect USCG-USN interoperability.
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Combat Casualty Management Issues in Future Operational Environments
September 1, 1995
This annotated briefing presents the findings of the quick-response project, Combat Casualty Management Issues in Future Operational Environments. This project is sponsored by the Deputy for Marine Corps Naval Matters (N093M). It is an outgrowth of Kernel Blitz '95, an amphibious exercise that used mostly traditional concepts of operation and had a relatively large amount of medical play. Under this traditional amphibious scenario, lessons were learned that should lead to improved medical support. But in the future, medical support for Naval Expeditionary Forces will face different and perhaps more difficult challenges. Cleared for Open Publication by CNO Ser 09N2/6U532300 of 12 Jul 1996; CNO Case No. 96-153.
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Requirements for Humanitarian Assistance and Peace Operations: Insights from Seven Case Studies
March 1, 1995
As part of the CNa project on the Marine Corps and Humanitarian Assistance Operations, sponsored by the Marine Corps Combat Development Center (MCCDC), this research memorandum examines USMC involvement in seven Humanitarian Assistance/Peace Operation (HA/POs). This project seeks to help MCCDC identify requirements (whether in doctrine, organization, training, or equipment) to improve the Marine Corps' ability to effectively perform HA/PO tasks. The project team is identifying the range of HA/PO requirements through a variety of methods, including seminar gaming, evaluation of existing doctrine and policies, and evaluation of the historical record.
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Development of U.S. Joint and Amphibious Doctrine, 1898-1945
September 1, 1994

The Naval Doctrine Command asked the Center for Naval Analyses to examine the command and control doctrine and practice of U.S. naval forces. The purpose of this effort is to help the Command (1) refine naval doctrine and (2) participate more effectively in the development of joint doctrine. CNA's Naval Command and Control for Joint Operations project examines how current Composite Warfare Commander (CWC) and Amphibious Warfare concepts can better integrate with the command and control of joint and combined operations. One of the objectives of this study is to understand how the dynamics that drive command and control for joint and combined operations differ from those that drive the Navy's use of the CWC structure. To do this, we need to examine the following questions: (1) How did our current joint and combined command structures evolve? (2) Why did these structures take the forms that they have? and (3) What are the implications for naval forces? This research memorandum focuses on the origins and evolution of U.S. doctrine for joint, combined, and amphibious warfare. First, we discuss how doctrine developed from the initial U.S. experience at modern coalition warfare in World War I, and then through the development of techniques and doctrine for operations between the wars. Second, we examine how current doctrine arose out of World War II. Finally, we discuss some of the implications for today's naval forces.

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Using Cost Information in Cost and Operational Effectiveness Analyses: Some Lessons Learned
July 1, 1994
This paper identifies and discusses certain issues that appear to be common to all Cost and Operational Effectiveness Analyses (COEAs). It draws from CNA's collective experience in conducting COEA-like studies as well as from longer standing principles of defense systems analysis. Each issue relates in some way to the role of cost information in the analysis. Yet at the same time, each is considerably broader than what is typically thought of as cost estimating or cost analysis. We begin with the role of COEAs in the acquisition process and a general discussion of the objectives of COEA studies and how they are put together. We then focus on the following issues: system versus decision alternatives; integrating cost and effectiveness results; wartime costs; discounting; risk and uncertainty analysis; and affordability.
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