Acquisition & Program Management Case Study

Management Solutions

CASE STUDY

Better Acquisitions Outcomes through the “Price Fighters” Program

The military today is being asked to do “more with less” in response to severe fiscal constraints and the emergence of security threats in multiple corners of the globe. Serco has helped to pioneer an innovative program to help the armed forces acquire the best possible defense capabilities while minimizing cost and waste.

As a key partner on the U.S. Navy’s “Price Fighter” program, Serco provides contracting officers with the tools and support to make sure that taxpayers are getting full value for money. Serco’s team understands that it may be difficult to obtain an accurate “market price” when procuring complex systems, managing retrofits, or working with sole source vendors.

Using Serco’s unique bottom-up methodology, clients can obtain an engineering-based cost analysis on new weapons systems and sophisticated business case analysis of logistics programs that support these systems.

Serco’s engineers and cost-price analysts work side-by-side with the Price Fighters team to build up a fair price model based on evaluating drawings, bill of materials, and industry standard process times for assembly, machining, and testing.

The benefits of this approach include:

  • Substantial cost savings
  • Pricing validation support
  • Fully unbiased report

For example, Serco helped the Navy to perform a comprehensive cost analysis of every aspect of maintaining the F/A-18 fighters that included procuring aircraft support equipment, technical publications, maintenance training, life-cycle planning, and provisioning support. Backed up by the Price Fighter rigorous cost report, Navy contracting officers were able to negotiate a cost reduction of $61 million from the initial proposal price.

In another example, Serco’s team employed a should-cost analysis methodology that enabled the Navy to reduce the cost of a 30 mm gun barrel set by 25%.

Price Fighters is a great example of how Serco can help empower program managers and acquisition specialists through accurate, technical pricing analysis tools that enable them to obtain fair pricing on critical weapons systems.

Serco is proud to support this innovative approach to acquisitions that ensures that every tax payer dollar counts.