Blog
Data as Doctrine: A Cost Engineer’s Creed
The Golden Rule: Bring the Data W.E. Deming’s famous words, “In God we trust. All others must bring data,” isn’t just a witty joke—it’s the bedrock of any disciplined approach to problem-solving. Deming’s point illuminates the indispensable role of data, measurement, and analysis in evaluating current performance against pre-established standards. In essence, it’s the cornerstone […]
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Transforming the Landscape of Department of Defense Proposals: A Case for Technological Evolution
The Challenges in DoD Proposals The current state of affairs in government contract proposals is ripe for technological advancement. Both government agencies and industry stakeholders are in agreement about the formidable task it has become to produce and evaluate cost proposals for new development contracts. Each large Department of Defense (DoD) competitive proposal mandates a […]
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Cost Estimation for Risk: Are Contractors Really Overpricing?
How data-driven parametric price and cost estimation can mitigate the need for vendors to overcharge fixed-price contracts. In a May 2023 report, CBS News uncovered repeated instances of defense contractors overcharging the Department of Defense (DoD). DoD would often negotiate fixed-price contracts with a reasonable 12% – 15% profit, but Pentagon analysts would later discover […]
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Taking the Guess Work out of Estimates with Price to Win
There is no serious alternative to Price to Win, since nobody is employed to ‘Bid to Lose’. Whenever a bid is submitted, you assess its likelihood of winning. This may be a quick and unstructured assessment, but it inevitably happens. Price to Win is a structured process that is measurable and repeatable. The alternative to doing a Price to Win is guessing. We assert that doing Price to Win as a structured process will achieve better results than guessing.
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What Does That Button Do? A Discussion on Product Manufacturing and Learning Curves
Let’s talk TruePlanning, and focus on a set of inputs that directly impact a specific activity: Production Manufacturing. This activity will be very important for acquisition programs as it typically represents the highest cost along with non-recurring engineering.
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