What is performance-based logistics, and why is it an effective product support management strategy?
Performance-based logistics is a unique Defense Department product support program that focuses on the purchase of performance and outcomes in product support instead of the products and services alone. In PBL, a contractor is offered incentives for meeting performance goals established by the contracting agency, thereby ensuring a high level of system readiness for deployed systems. 2. What steps did you take to institute PBL in the department? Was there resistance? We began implementing PBL about six years ago. The fiscal 1998 National Defense Authorization Act tasked us to look at innovative alternatives to product support and from that study we launched 30 pilot programs and published the first DoD PBL guide, Product Support for the 21st Century. Pilot program results were reviewed during the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review. As a result of that review, the secretary of defense directed that we accelerate implementation for all new weapon systems and backfit to all legacy systems su
