Primary Functional Area : Life Cycle Logistics
Product support arrangement. The term "product support arrangement" means a contract, task order, or any type of other contractual arrangement, or any type of agreement or non-contractual arrangement within the Federal Government, for the performance of sustainment or logistics support required for major weapon systems, subsystems, or components. The term includes arrangements for any of the following:
- Performance-based logistics.
- Sustainment support.
- Contractor logistics support.
- Life-cycle product support.
- Weapon systems product support.
(Sources: 10 U.S.C §2337 and DoD Product Support Manager (PSM) Guidebook, para 2.4)
Product Support Arrangements (PSA). The foundational documents that enact and implement the relationships across the DoD Product Support Business Model (PSBM) framework are called PSAs. It begins with the Warfighter (user) defined performance requirements that are initiated through the Joint Capability Integration and Development System (JCIDS). The PSM (acting on behalf of the PM) incorporates the appropriate needs and constraints in arrangements with Product Support Integrators (PSIs). They, in turn, ensure that the necessary performance requirements to meet their arrangements are properly passed to the Product Support Providers (PSPs), who accomplish the product support activities.
Product Support Arrangements (PSA) which include a "contract, task order, or any type of other contractual arrangement" are therefore used to spell out performance requirements, metrics, incentives, and deliverables between government and commercial sector (or between industry and industry) organizations for sustainment or logistics support required for major weapon systems, subsystems, or components.
PSAs which include "any type of agreement or non-contractual arrangement within the Federal Government" are also used to spell out these performance requirements, metrics, incentives, and deliverables between government organizations. These can include things such as Memorandums of Agreement (MOA), Memorandums of Understanding (MOU), Service Level Agreements (SLA), and so on.
PSAs are used to ensure performance expectations of all product support entities are clearly articulated. PSAs require defined outcomes and differ from a ―best effort‖ approach typical of some DoD organic support processes. PSAs provide a clear delineation of performance outcomes, corresponding support requirements, and the resources required to achieve both; they create a clear understanding of the outcomes and the commitments required to achieve those outcomes among all stakeholder parties. Well-designed PSAs should include:
- Clear and understood cost, schedule, and performance objectives and metrics to achieve documented Warfighter requirements
- Roles and responsibilities
- Conflict adjudication procedures
- Reliability, availability, maintainability, supportability, and cost improvement targets
- Data sources and collection frequency
- Arrangement terms and conditions
- Planned flexibility
- Unforeseen circumstances identification and management
- Meeting cadence
- Performance reviews
- Incentives and penalties
(Source: Product Support Manager (PSM) Guidebook, para 2.4)
PSAs as Integral Aspect of the DoD Product Support Business Model (PSBM). The PSBM defines the framework in which the planning, development, implementation, and execution of product support for a weapon system, subsystem, or component is accomplished over its life cycle. The PSBM describes the methodology promoted by DoD to facilitate optimized product support by balancing weapon system availability and ownership cost and encouraging the most advantageous use of an integrated defense industrial base. The model, as discussed in detail in paragraph 2.1 and Figure 4 of the DoD PSM Guidebook and a related PSBM ACQuipedia article, provides a clearly delineated description of the roles, relationships, accountability, responsibility and business agreements among the managers, integrators, and providers of product support. Those roles and responsibilities are portrayed, consistent with their level of accountability and responsibility, and are clearly linked at each level by well crafted, comprehensive PSAs.
For additional PSAs insights, recommend also visiting the Performance Based Logistics Community of Practice (PBL CoP) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) site on Product Support Arrangements (PSA). Several key questions answered there include:
- Question: What is the purpose of a Product Support Arrangements (PSA)? Answer: To enable Performance Based Logistics (PBL), the following must be documented: a) An acceptable range of weapon system performance objectives, b) Corresponding support necessary to meet that level of performance, and c) Formal, disciplined and quantified arrangement to delineate anticipated level of required support. PSAs accomplish this by establishing the framework for the coordination and alignment of resources in support of customers. PSAs also help ensure that promised service levels can be fulfilled, as well as help in aligning resources to the service levels. Ultimately, however, they are used document expected performance outcomes.
- Question: How do Product Support Arrangements (PSA) differ from or align to Performance Based Agreements (PBA)? Answer: When the PSA is tied to system or a subsystem/component level performance that describes measurable service and performance level parameters based on customer requirements and expectations it is known as a Performance Based Agreement.
- Question: What kinds of PSAs are available and what do they look like? Answer: PSAs document terms, objectives, and scope of support with DoD support organizations. They are not legally binding by law unless in the form of a formal contract, but they are designed to hold each party accountable. They are generally between two or more government organizations, but can also include other parties (i.e. contractors). In addition to contracts, for government to government arrangements, documents such as Memorandums of Understanding (MOU), Memorandums of Agreement (MOA), and Service Level Agreements (SLA) are often used. MOUs tend to be more top level and generally outline broad principles, while MOAs tend to be more specific. SLAs are similar to MOUs/MOAs, however they are generally less formal and more "promises of support."
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General
- CLL 001 Life Cycle Management & Sustainment Metrics
- CLL 011 Performance Based Logistics
- CLL 015 Business Case Analysis
- CLL 036 Product Support Manager
- LOG 235 Performance Based Logistics
- LOG 340 Life Cycle Product Support
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Created on
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6/22/2005
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Modified on
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2/24/2016
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Last Reviewed
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2/24/2016
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