Application of Should Cost Methodologies to Address Savings Across the Acquisition Life Cycle

Abstract

The goal of this research is to examine the Air Force Should Cost Methodology and how effective it is at influencing programs to document and implement Should Cost Initiatives (SCIs) and savings opportunities. The Air Force produced a comprehensive program that includes a workshop where AFIT facilitates a seven-step process to discover SCIs for attending programs. The goal of the Workshop is for each program to develop at least one SCI. AFIT is not the expert on the individual programs; the attendees are, and AFIT guides the Workshop instead of directing specific methods. As a result, since the inception of the AFIT-led Should Cost Workshop in March 2016, 31 IPTs have attended with 89 SCIs identified and $1.039 billion reported by the IPTs as potential savings over the upcoming 13 year timeframe. Many lessons learned have been documented, resulting in several recommendations to improve the Workshop.