§5514 Acquisition accountability on the missile defense system

Summary

The Director of the Missile Defense Agency must create and keep a written acquisition baseline for every missile defense program element and for each major subprogram. The baseline has to be set before the work moves into engineering and manufacturing development and before production and deployment. It must cover a full schedule (research and development steps, design reviews and decision points, key tests, delivery and fielding dates, quantities, and planned contract award dates), a technical description of the capability and requirements (including how it meets warfighter needs, key knowledge points needed to continue the program, and plans to improve the system), a test plan summary, and a detailed cost estimate. The cost estimate must be life‑cycle based and list separate costs for research and development, buying, military construction, operations and upkeep, and disposal. It must include unit costs, average procurement costs, the status or timing for the program’s joint cost analysis document, or why that document is not applicable. The Director may only change a baseline after notifying the congressional defense committees with a justification, the exact changes (including the items above), and the effective date. Life‑cycle cost entries must show which operations and sustainment costs the Director is responsible for, which costs a military department is responsible for (with dollar amounts and base year), the source and date of those figures, and whether they were independently verified by the Office for Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation.