§1733 Product support manager

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must name a product support manager for every covered system. That person is equal in rank to the program manager and reports to the portfolio acquisition executive. The product support manager must run the product support needed to keep the system ready and working for its whole life. They must try to meet the goals of the defense acquisition system. The product support manager must make and carry out the product support strategy (see section 4324). They must give expert help to the program manager and portfolio executive. They must work with chief and systems engineers on the life‑cycle sustainment plan and on analyzing operating and support costs. They must use predictive analytics and modeling to improve availability and cut sustainment costs. They must do business case analyses early, no later than Milestone B approval, and update them as needed. They must recommend how to assign resources, coordinate support across commands, depots, working capital funds, and commercial partners, address supply or manufacturing shortages, manage testing and qualification of alternative suppliers, and pick the best integrators and providers to carry out the strategy. "Best value" is defined in section 3101. The terms "covered system," "critical readiness items of supply," "product support," "product support arrangement," "product support integrator," and "product support provider" are defined in section 4324.