Assessing the Impact of Department of Defense Weapons Systems on the Defense Industrial Base

Abstract

"From fiscal year (FY) 2013 through FY 2023, the Department of Defense (DoD), on average, directed nearly 20% of spending into 400+ weapons systems (also referred to as equipment systems, major systems, or equipment programs). The DoD designates something as an equipment program (EP) based on factors including mission criticality; the extent to which system capabilities depend on a combination of hardware, software, and equipment elements; and the level of resourcing required.

In this paper, we leverage public data from the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) to analyze more than $800 billion in DoD funding allocated for EPs from FY2013–FY2023. We explore the features of these contract awards, and the pool of entities that received this funding. We examine the challenges faced by the DoD in delivering EP capabilities on time and on budget and explore possible causes for these cost and schedule overruns. We offer a series of recommendations for new policies and protocols that will enable the DoD to better manage these programs and ensure they serve as a strategic boon to the military’s critical mission priorities."