To use public funds effectively, the gov¿t. must meet the demands of today's changing world by employing effective mgmt. practices and processes, including the measurement of gov¿t. program performance. Legislators, gov¿t. officials, and the public want to know whether gov¿t. programs are achieving their goals and what their costs are. To make those evaluations, reliable cost information is required and fed. standards have been issued for the cost accounting that is needed to prepare that information. This Cost Guide has been developed in order to establish a consistent methodology that is based on best practices and that can be used across the fed. gov¿t. for developing, managing, and evaluating capital program cost estimates. Illustrations.

The matching of airline passenger info. against terrorist watchlist records is a frontline defense against acts of terrorism that target the our civil aviation system. Passengers identified as matches to the No-Fly list are prohibited from boarding commercial flights, while those matched to the Selectee list are required to undergo additional screening. The TSA has developed an advanced passenger prescreening program -- known as Secure Flight -- that matches passenger info. against terrorist watchlist records. This report discusses the challenges the program has faced, incl.: protecting passenger privacy, completing performance testing, fully defining and testing security requirements, and establishing reliable cost and schedule estimates, among other things.

Since the recent recession, policymakers have emphasized the role exports can play in strengthening the U.S. economy and in creating higher paying jobs. In March 2010 the President signed an Executive Order creating the National Export Initiative (NEI), with a goal of doubling U.S. exports in 5 years. However, since 2004 the workforce of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (CS) has shrunk, calling into question the ability of this key agency to increase its activities to assist U.S. businesses with their exports. This report reviewed: (1) how well CS managed its resources from 2004 to 2009; and (2) the completeness of CS's workforce plans and the quality of its fiscal year 2011 budget request. Tables. This is a print on demand publication.

Presents information to create a trade-off analysis framework for use in government and commercial acquisition environments This book presents a decision management process based on decision theory and cost analysis best practices aligned with the ISO/IEC 15288, the Systems Engineering Handbook, and the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge. It provides a sound trade-off analysis framework to generate the tradespace and evaluate value and risk to support system decision-making throughout the life cycle. Trade-off analysis and risk analysis techniques are examined. The authors present an integrated value trade-off and risk analysis framework based on decision theory. These trade-off analysis concepts are illustrated in the different life cycle stages using multiple examples from defense and commercial domains. Provides techniques to identify and structure stakeholder objectives and creative, doable alternatives Presents the advantages and disadvantages of tradespace creation and exploration techniques for trade-off analysis of concepts, architectures, design, operations, and retirement Covers the sources of uncertainty in the system life cycle and examines how to identify, assess, and model uncertainty using probability Illustrates how to perform a trade-off analysis using the INCOSE Decision Management Process using both deterministic and probabilistic techniques Trade-off Analytics: Creating and Exploring the System Tradespace is written for upper undergraduate students and graduate students studying systems design, systems engineering, industrial engineering and engineering management. This book also serves as a resource for practicing systems designers, systems engineers, project managers, and engineering managers. Gregory S. Parnell, PhD, is a Research Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Arkansas. He is also a senior principal with Innovative Decisions, Inc., a decision and risk analysis firm and has served as Chairman of the Board. Dr. Parnell has published more than 100 papers and book chapters and was lead editor of Decision Making for Systems Engineering and Management, Wiley Series in Systems Engineering (2nd Ed, Wiley 2011) and lead author of the Handbook of Decision Analysis (Wiley 2013). He is a fellow of INFORMS, the INCOSE, MORS, and the Society for Decision Professionals.

Effective implementation of two 2008 laws by the IRS could increase taxpayers' voluntary compliance. Those laws require reporting to IRS and taxpayers of cost basis for sales of certain securities and of transaction settlement information (i.e., merchants' income from payment cards or third party networks). This report: (1) assesses IRS's implementation plans for the laws; (2) determines the extent to which IRS issued timely regulations and guidance and did outreach; (3) examines how IRS will use the new data to improve compliance; and (4) analyzes IRS's plans to assess implementation and measure performance and outcomes. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand report.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BoP) is responsible for the custody and care of about 209,000 federal inmates -- a population which has grown by 44% over the last decade. In FY 2008 and 2009, the Pres. requested additional funding for BoP because costs for key operations were at risk of exceeding appropriated funding levels. This report examined: (1) how BoP estimates costs when developing its annual budget; (2) the extent to which BoP's methods for estimating costs follow established best practices; and (3) the extent to which BoP's costs for key operations exceeded requested funding levels identified in the President's budget in recent years, and how this has affected BoP's ability to manage its growing inmate population. Illus.

The Navy plans to spend about $28 billion to buy 55 Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) and at least 64 interchangeable mission packages to perform one of three missions ¿ mine countermeasures, antisubmarine warfare, and surface warfare ¿ in waters close to shore. The Navy has been developing two different LCS seaframes and plans to select one for production in 2010. Due to the small 78-person crew size ¿ 40 core crew, 23 for aviation detachment, and typically 15 for mission packages ¿ the Navy is developing new concepts for personnel, training, and maintenance. This report assessed the extent to which DoD has: (1) estimated LCS long-term operating and support costs; and (2) developed plans to operate and support LCS. Illustrations.