Exploring a New Defense Resource Management System

Abstract : This paper proposes an alternative approach to the Defense Department's Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System (PPBS) to meet the new needs of national security. The alternative approach, dubbed PDIMS for Program Development and Implementation Management System, involves the following: (1) a comprehensive set of decisions by the Secretary of Defense on capability, policy, and investment; (2) a resource-constrained, Department-wide program planning process that develops the alternatives for these decisions; and (3) a Department-wide implementation review process that monitors implementation of the Secretary's decisions. The paper reviews Secretary Rumsfeld's vision for a transformed PPBS, explores his criticisms, defines his statutory tasks, and investigates the applicability of the business paradigm. It also describes the historical practice of the PPBS, explains the various elements of PDIMS, and illustrates how the sequence of events could work. PDIMS is a synthesis of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's call for defense transformation and his concerns about the ability of the Department's current resource allocation processes to make transformation a reality. PDIMS offers choices for changing the existing PPBS process and serves as a starting point for consideration and discussion. (3 tables, 4 figures)