Defense Acquisitions: Military Services Consistently Held Required Configuration Steering Boards That Actively Reviewed Requirements Changes

Abstract : The Department of Defense (DOD) established Configuration Steering Boards (CSBs) in 2007 as a measure to control requirements changes and associated cost increases on its major defense acquisition programs (MDAPs). These boards are a forum for senior acquisition, funding, and requirement leaders in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Staff, and the military services to review proposed changes to program requirements or system configurations that have the potential to adversely affect program cost or schedule. Congress has also identified CSBs as a way to control requirements. In the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009, Congress directed DOD to establish and hold annual CSBs for the military services MDAPs. In July 2011, we found that the military services held a CSB review for about 77 percent of the MDAPs in 2010, and that programs varied in how they used the boards to control requirements and mitigate cost and schedule risks. In addition, we found that not all of the required officials were invited to participate in the board meetings, particularly in the Navy. We recommended that the Navy amend its policy to ensure that all statutorily required participants are included, and that DOD amend its CSB policy to be consistent with statute and align CSBs with other reviews when possible. Since then, the Navy has updated its guidance to explicitly include the Joint Staff and the Office of the Secretary of Defense as CSB participants. In November 2013, DOD amended its CSB policy to ensure that statutorily required participants are included and require annual CSBs for programs in production and sustainment, among other things. The Senate Report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 mandated GAO to review DOD s implementation of the CSB process. To conduct this work, we reviewed the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 and acquisition guidance related to CSBs.