The Department of Defense has released a directive that assigns responsibilities, establishes policy and offers direction for monitoring and reporting sustainment business health metrics in support of materiel availability.
The document defines materiel availability and operational availability as the two superordinate sustainment health metrics that enable DOD to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the department’s sustainment enterprise.
The directive took effect Wednesday, April 24, and was approved by William LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment and a 2024 Wash100 awardee.
The DOD Instruction 3110.05 outlines metrics that seek to allow decision makers across DOD to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of weapon system sustainment using a standard structure.
Under the directive, the assistant secretary of defense for sustainment should monitor materiel availability and operational availability reporting for weapon systems and use the superordinate metrics and supporting data to oversee sustainment programs and operations.
The document directs the secretaries of military departments to review the methodology and procedures on an annual basis, recommend revisions, maintain superordinate metrics and supporting data and identify and address the primary causes of high non-availability or excessive cost per day of availability.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should manage the approval of sustainment metrics in the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System process and review all changes to materiel availability and operational availability requirements pursuant to a 2022 memorandum and sustainment reviews, according to the directive.
