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GAO-14-358R 1 (2014-04-10)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaahuj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: cIAO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 April 10, 2014 Congressional Committees Presidential Helicopter Acquisition: Update on Program's Progress toward Development Start In June 2009, the Department of Defense (DOD) terminated the Navy's VH-71 presidential helicopter program because of cost growth, schedule delays, and a projected shortfall in system performance. The Navy subsequently began work to define a follow-on program, now known as VXX, to acquire helicopters to replace the existing presidential helicopter fleet. The Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 mandated that we review and report annually to the congressional defense committees on the program beginning in 2011 and ending in 2013.1 We issued three reports in response. In the first, we identified major lessons learned from the terminated program that should be applied in the follow-on program.2 In the second, we provided information on the program's delays and on DOD's planned upgrades to the in-service fleet and plans for moving the program forward.3 In the third, issued last year, we found that the Navy had made progress toward establishing a sound business case that reflected a rational balance between requirements, costs and schedule.4 At the time of our last report, the Navy had just finalized its VXX requirements. Given the VH-71 program experience and the importance of developing a helicopter to replace the current fleet of presidential helicopters in a timely manner, the House Armed Services Committee, Tactical Air and Land Force Subcommittee requested that GAO continue to monitor the VXX presidential helicopter acquisition through a series of reviews, with each of those reviews tailored to where the program is in the acquisition process, and provide GAO's assessment of the program. Subsequently, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 mandated that we continue to review and report on the program annually to the congressional defense committees.5 This report discusses the program's consistency with acquisition best practices and meeting corresponding requirements as it approaches the start of system development in the engineering and manufacturing development phase of DOD's acquisition process. Specifically, it discusses independent assessment of the program's technology readiness, trade-offs made to ensure affordability and requirements approval, development of an independent cost estimate, use of competitive prototyping, and completion of a preliminary design review (PDR). 1Pub. L. No. 111-383, § 233. 2GAO, Defense Acquisitions: Application of Lessons Learned and Best Practices in the Presidential Helicopter Program, GAO-i 1-380R (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 25, 2011). 3GAO, Presidential Helicopter Acquisition: Effort Delayed as DOD Adopts New Approach to Balance Requirements, Costs, and Schedule, GAO-12-381R (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 27, 2012). 4GAO, Presidential Helicopter Acquisition: Program Makes Progress in Balancing Requirements, Costs, and Schedule, GAO-i 3-257 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 9,2013). 5pub. L. No. 113-66, § 252 (2013). GAO-14-358R Presidential Helicopter Program Page 1

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