Defense Acquisition Research Journal Issue 95

January 2021

TABLE 2. DATABASE EXCLUSIONS

Category

Number Removed

Remaining Programs

Available Programs in CADE

189

Excluded Commodity Types

35

154

No EMD Data

25

129

CCDR File Format Not .XLS

27

102

Final Dataset for Analysis

102

Several commodity types, such as system of systems, are excluded because they lie outside the scope of this analysis. Additionally, 25 programs lacked associated EMD phase costs and are excluded. Twenty-seven programs contained EMD data but have no accessible files within CADE, resulting in the entire program’s exclusion from the dataset. These are primarily older programs with manually transcribed data from the 1980s or earlier, and in many instances the data are illegible. Methods The methodological approach has two stages. The first stage is creation of individual factors. The factors are calculated as a ratio of individual level two WBS elements from Table 1 to a base cost. The base cost is the program’s Prime Mission Equipment (PME) value, which does not include the contractor’s fee or miscellaneous expenses (general and administra tive, undistributed budget, management reserve, or facilities capital cost of money). The general form of the calculation is shown in Equation 1. WBS Level 2 Element ij PME j = Cost Factor ij where i = SE/PM, ST&E, Training, Data, PSE, CSE, Spares, and Site Activation j = individual programs After establishing cost factors for the level two WBS elements, it is possible to develop composite factors for a myriad of unique categories. Specific level two WBS elements can be examined in groupings to establish aggregate values that represent an average or percentage that can be used in formu lating estimates. These groupings allow for analysis at several levels, such

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Defense ARJ, January 2021, Vol. 28 No. 1 : 40-70