Measuring Changes in Service Costs to Meet the Requirements of the 2002 National Defense Authorization Act

Discusses the complexities of, and recommends a methodology for, measuring changes in service costs incurred by the military. The 2002 National Defense Authorization Act set goals for the Department of Defense to achieve savings in service contract expenditures over a ten-year period through changes in contracting practices and improvements in management techniques. The authors of this report investigate ways to measure whether the Air Force is achieving these cost-reduction goals and discuss the primary steps in the measurement process.