§ 4325. Major weapon systems: assessment, management, and control of operating and support costs

• (a) The Secretary of Defense shall issue and maintain guidance on actions to be taken to assess, manage, and control Department of Defense costs for the operation and support of major weapon systems.
• (b) The guidance required by subsection (a) shall, at a minimum—
  • (1) be issued in accordance with the requirements of section 118 of this title and in conjunction with the comprehensive guidance on life-cycle management and the development and implementation of product support strategies for major weapon systems required by section 4324 of this title ;
  • (2) require the military departments to retain each estimate of operating and support costs that is developed at any time during the life cycle of a major weapon system, together with supporting documentation used to develop the estimate;
  • (3) require each Secretary of a military department to update estimates of operating and support costs periodically throughout the life cycle of a major weapon system, and make necessary adjustments to the life-cycle sustainment plan required by section 4324 of this title to ensure such major weapon system meets applicable operational readiness requirements and materiel readiness objectives (established in accordance with section 118(c) of this title ) in the most cost-effective manner practicable;
  • (4) establish policies and procedures for the collection, organization, maintenance, and availability of standardized data on operating and support costs for major weapon systems in accordance with section 2222 of this title ;
  • (5) establish standard requirements for the collection and reporting of data on operating and support costs for major weapon systems by contractors performing weapon system sustainment functions in an appropriate format, and develop contract clauses to ensure that contractors comply with such requirements;
  • (6) require the military departments—
    • (A) to collect and retain data from operational and developmental testing and evaluation on the reliability and maintainability of major weapon systems; and
    • (B) to use such data to inform system design decisions, provide insight into sustainment costs, and inform estimates of operating and support costs for such systems;
  • (7) require the military departments to ensure that sustainment factors are fully considered at key life-cycle management decision points and that appropriate measures are taken to reduce operating and support costs by influencing system design early in development, developing sound sustainment strategies, and addressing key drivers of costs;
  • (8) require the military departments to conduct an independent logistics assessment of each major weapon system prior to key acquisition decision points (including milestone decisions) to identify features that are likely to drive future operating and support costs, changes to system design that could reduce such costs, and effective strategies for managing such costs;
  • (9) prior to the Milestone B approval (or equivalent approval) for a major weapon system, require the Secretary concerned to ensure the completion of an intellectual property management plan for product support required under section 4324(b)(1)(D) of this title ; and
  • (10) require each Secretary of a military department to create and retain an independent cost estimate for the remainder of the life cycle of the covered weapon system every five years.
• (c) In this section, the term “major weapon system” has the meaning given that term in section 101(a) of this title .