It is the intent of this paper to review the Acquisition Management SysternVProgram Management concepts of the major Armed Services comprising the Department of Defense (DOD), Army, Navy and the Air Force, and the System Management process associated with System Acquisition. As such, this paper reviews highlights of the DOD Program Management Acquisition Management Systems. The study is closely related to the writer's position at Naval Training Equipment Center. Being a DOD employee and operating in a technical environment, specifically in a position of employing the Program Management concept to in-house major tasks the need for more fully understanding and employing the concepts of Government Programs Management was clearly dictated. At the offset this approach seemed reasonable; however, as the research matured via an intensive literary search a dichothorny in the acquisition System Management process was uncovered. It was also discovered that Government guidelines are undergoing considerable changes, and it became necessary to expend a considerable effort to obtain copies of the applicable material. Research of available reference material was limited to that applicable to Weapon System Acquisition in the pre David Packard era and post David Packard era. Each of the technical management concepts of the Armed Services was reviewed and a summary of each prepared such that a comparative analysis of the three methods could be conducted. The research material was obtained with the assistance of the Navy Technical Library and through purchase of the material from the U. S. Govermnent Printing Office. Every effort has been made to obtain copies of all documents referenced in the Matrix of Major Subsystems and applicable documents of the Department of Defense Acquisition System. These documents are available from this researcher upon request.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University / The method of determination and expenditure of the Department of Defense research and development budget with all its attendant military, economic, and political considerations is obviously a topic far beyond the limitations of a paper of this type and no attempt will be made by the author to discuss this subject. In an effort to isolate for examination, however, one very pertinent aspect of this broad current issue, the thesis does concern itself with the problem of determining, contracting, providing and utilizing effectively the funds required to conduct Government research and development contracts with private industrial and institutional organizations. Since, in the aggregate, more than three -fourths of all military research and development requirements are fulfilled through these sources, it is hoped that, by considering these problems as they relate primarily to the individual contractor and secondarily to the Federal Government, certain conclusions may be reached regarding financial management principles and procedures which might eliminate difficulties in the field of research and development.

The goal of this research project is to tell the story of acquisition expertise development within the DOD using the evolution of the Defense Acquisition University as its backdrop. It is a story about the persistent frame that claims expertise leads to acquisition success. It is about 40 plus years of competing perspectives of how best to acquire that expertise and their shaping effects. It is about technology choices amidst cultural and political conflict. It is about how budget, users, infrastructure, existing and emerging technologies, identity and geography all interrelate as elements within the technology of expertise development. Finally, it is about how at various times in the evolution of the Defense Acquisition University the technologies of tacit knowledge transfer have been elevated or diminished. / Ph. D.