Edward G. Keating

To prepare for its next Defence White Paper, Australia is examining an enterprise-level naval shipbuilding plan. To support this effort, RAND researchers explore the feasibility of Australia sustaining a domestic naval shipbuilding industry compared with buying ships from foreign shipbuilders. The authors outline the complex consequences and trade-offs of both options.

In California, travel/tourism employs a diverse workforce and contributes meaningfully to the state's economy. This report evaluates the role of travel/tourism in the state's economy. It uses data on the state's tourism and labor force to provide insight about tourism workers in California and how their careers evolve and should be of interest to policymakers and researchers interested in economic development issues and career pathways.

This report examines recent patterns in military-to-civilian conversion that is, converting military positions to government civilian positions to identify the primary impediments to such conversions. The authors reviewed relevant statutes and policies, held discussions with U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) subject matter experts, and analyzed administrative data on DoD military and civilian personnel."

This report assesses the economic impacts that a shipbuilder has on its local community and region. The authors utilize a case study methodology to examine two U.S. shipbuilders and the Saab Aeronautics Gripen program in Sweden. While each shipbuilder has had beneficial effects on its local economy, neither shipbuilder has given rise to the ecosystem of favorable spillovers and spin-offs that the Gripen program seems to have created.

Examines Department of Defense depot-level reparable (DLR) supply chain management to identify the most common reasons for apparent inventory excess and customer support shortfalls and assess how DLR supply chain management could be improved to enhance customer support and reduce costs.

The U.S. Army's two ammunition ports--Military Ocean Terminal Concord (MOTCO) and Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point (MOTSU)--have different funding approaches; a central question in this research is what the most appropriate financial structure should be. To help answer this question, the authors develop two variations of an ammunition port funding policy, both featuring customers paying marginal costs for port services.

The U.S. Air Force asked RAND Project AIR FORCE to perform a congressionally required assessment of contractor versus organic management of F-22 air vehicle and F119 engine sustainment to determine the most cost-effective approach. The methodology involved the development of notional government sustainment organizations and a consideration of a variety of factors relevant to such a decision, including the asserted benefits of each approach.

As Navy aircraft age, leaders must decide whether to modify and upgrade the aging systems or replace them. Preliminary planning has begun as to the feasibility and desirability of a service life extension program (SLEP) on the F/A-18E/F versus buying replacement Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs). This report presents ranges of parameter values that favor versus oppose undertaking E/F SLEPs.

Analyzes the Air Force's seven medical and professional officer corps the Biomedical Sciences Corps, the Chaplain Corps, the Dental Corps, the Judge Advocate General Corps (attorneys), the Medical Corps (physicians), the Medical Service Corps, and the Nurse Corps with regard to end strengths, accession levels, promotion flow, and attrition since the late 1970s. Recent accession and retention trends have been most adverse in the Nurse Corps."

Discusses the tendencies of Air Force physicians and dentists to accept Multiyear Special Pay (MSP). Eligible dentists have often accepted MSP although a majority of eligible physicians have not. Increasing MSP levels appears to increase the percentage of physicians who choose to accept MSP rather than leaving Air Force service.

Provides a descriptive overview of the Department of the Navy's civilian acquisition workforce over the past decade and presents the results of preliminary analyses of data related to specific workforce management issues: retention, professional development, and leadership.

This book summarizes defense acquisition workforce analysis that RAND has undertaken in support of human capital strategic planning. The report covers the civilian acquisition workforce, the careers of acquisition workforce senior executive service members, and the military acquisition workforce and its implications for the larger workforce. It also provides projection model that uses data on the civilian acquisition workforce as a key input.

The more accurately a cost index captures a shipbuilder's risk, the less the Navy should have to pay its shipbuilders. The Navy uses such indexes to correct for significant cost risks outside its shipbuilders' control. A longtime material-cost index in Navy shipbuilding is the steel-vessel index, but it is outdated and volatile. The authors urge the Navy to develop a modern-vessel index that more appropriately represents the materials used today.

Looks at how Department of Defense (DoD) education, training, and development institutions are affected by the consolidation of DoD facilities and changes in governance structure. The Department of Defense (DoD) often improves its efficiency by consolidating facilities (mainly through base realignment and closure, or BRAC) and changing its governance structure. These shifts significantly affect the education, training, and development (ET&D) institutions that support DoD personnel, with such impact as relocation. With an eye toward the 2005 BRAC, RAND researchers look at four case studies of the 1990s and from them make recommendations for ET&D institutions that may be affected by future shifts in defense infrastructure. (PW)

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) provides finance and accounting services to customers within the Department of Defense. The authors examine the DFAS pricing structure and its impact on customer demand, the agency's workload, and equity in pricing. The authors found that the DFAS's uniform pricing for finance outputs creates cross-customer subsidization, suggesting a need for nonlinear, customer-specific pricing. The authors also examine whether any negative effects arose from the October 1999 switch from unit billing to hourly billing for DFAS accounting work and found no significant evidence that they had.

One-liner: When is it more cost efficient to replace an aircraft rather than continue to maintain it? 450-character abstract: The report presents a model of the repair-replace decision for aging aircraft and data describing the C-5A cargo aircraft. The authors examine the decision whether to modify or retire the C-5A fleet. They also extend the modeling approach to evaluate prospective investment in additional depot-level capacity. The study's preliminary conclusion is that the C-5A's planned reliability enhancement and re-engining program modification is worthwhile if it occurs soon.

This documented briefing examines the history of A-76 public/private cost comparisons in the DoD using data covering fiscal years 1978-1994.