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TITLE VIII--ACQUISITION POLICY, ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT, AND RELATED MATTERS

Subtitle A--Acquisition Policy and Management

P. L. 111-

House Conference Report 111-288

    (a) Guidance on Life-cycle Management.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall issue comprehensive guidance on life-cycle management and the development and implementation of product support strategies for major weapon systems. The guidance issued pursuant to this subsection shall--

    (1) maximize competition and make the best possible use of available Department of Defense and industry resources at the system, subsystem, and component levels; and

    (b) Product Support Managers.--

    (1) REQUIREMENT.--The Secretary of Defense shall require that each major weapon system be supported by a product support manager in accordance with this subsection.

    (2) RESPONSIBILITIES.--A product support manager for a major weapon system shall--

    (A) develop and implement a comprehensive product support strategy for the weapon system;

    (B) conduct appropriate cost analyses to validate the product support strategy, including cost-benefit analyses as outlined in Office of Management and Budget Circular A-94;

    (C) assure achievement of desired product support outcomes through development and implementation of appropriate product support arrangements;

    (D) adjust performance requirements and resource allocations across product support integrators and product support providers as necessary to optimize implementation of the product support strategy;

    (E) periodically review product support arrangements between the product support integrators and product support providers to ensure the arrangements are consistent with the overall product support strategy; and

    (F) prior to each change in the product support strategy or every five years, whichever occurs first, revalidate any business-case analysis performed in support of the product support strategy.

    (c) Government Performance of Product Support Manager Function.--Section 820(a) of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (Public Law 109-364; 120 Stat. 2330) is amended--

    (1) by redesignating paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) as paragraphs (4), (5) and (6), respectively; and

    (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new paragraph (3):

    ``(3) Product support manager.''.

    (d) Definitions.--In this section:

    (1) The term ``product support'' means the package of support functions required to field and maintain the readiness and operational capability of major weapon systems, subsystems, and components, including all functions related to weapon system readiness.

    (2) The term ``product support arrangement'' means a contract, task order, or any type of other contractual arrangement, or any type of agreement or non-contractual arrangement within the Federal Government, for the performance of sustainment or logistics support required for major weapon systems, subsystems, or components. The term includes arrangements for any of the following:

    (A) Performance-based logistics.

    (B) Sustainment support.

    (C) Contractor logistics support.

    (D) Life-cycle product support.

    (E) Weapon systems product support.

    (3) The term ``product support integrator'' means an entity within the Federal Government or outside the Federal Government charged with integrating all sources of product support, both private and public, defined within the scope of a product support arrangement.

    (4) The term ``product support provider'' means an entity that provides product support functions. The term includes an entity within the Department of Defense, an entity within the private sector, or a partnership between such entities.

    (5) The term ``major weapon system'' has the meaning given that term in section 2302d of title 10, United States Code.

   The House bill contained a provision (sec. 805) that would have prohibited contractors from performing product support integrator functions for a major system.

   The Senate amendment contained no similar provision.

   The Senate recedes with an amendment that would: (1) require the Secretary of Defense to issue comprehensive guidance on life-cycle management and the development and implementation of product support strategies for major weapon systems; (2) require that each major weapon system be supported by a product support manager; and (3) amend section 802 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (Public Law 109-364) to require that each such position be performed by a properly qualified member of the armed forces or full-time employee of the Department of Defense (DOD).

   The conferees understand that product support encompasses all critical functions related to weapon-system readiness, including materiel management, distribution, technical data management, maintenance, training, cataloging, configuration management, engineering support, repair parts management, failure reporting and analyses, and reliability growth. Included within logistics and sustainment functions are the tasks normally performed as part of the logistics support required for a major weapon system that are designed to focus on such metrics as readiness, reliability, availability, mean down time, customer wait time, footprint reduction, and reduced ownership costs.

   The conferees note that in implementation of this provision, the positions of product support manager, assistant program manager for logistics, deputy program manager for logistics, and system support manager shall be considered synonymous. However, the conferees emphasize that the product support manager is a separate position from the program manager with distinct responsibilities.

   Additionally, the conferees in no way intend to limit DOD from establishing product support managers and comprehensive product support strategies for other acquisition programs that are not designated major weapon systems as defined by section 2302d of title 10, United States Code.

House Report 111-166 - NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010

SECTION 805--LIMITATION ON PERFORMANCE OF PRODUCT SUPPORT INTEGRATOR FUNCTIONS

This section would amend chapter 141 of title 10, United States Code, by adding a new section that would require that when the Department of Defense (DOD) enters into contractor sustainment arrangements for the purchase of logistics support for a major system, the product support integration function would be performed by a member of the armed forces or an employee of the Department of Defense, beginning after September 30, 2010. This section would not require a member of the armed forces or an employee of the Department of Defense to perform the product support integrator function on subsystems or components of a major system.

The committee understands that the product support integrator function is an entity performing as a formally bound agent charged with integrating all sources of support, public and private, defined within the scope of the sustainment agreements, to achieve the documented performance metrics and outcomes or sustainment and logistics requirements. The committee expects this section would allow the Department of Defense to:

(1) Improve competition for subsystems and components;

(2) Manage support contracts through competitive procedures;

(3) Avoid administrative costs charged by a product support integrator; and

(4) Leverage both industry and DOD Centers of Industrial and Technical Excellence to achieve competition, performance, and cost savings.