DOD releases updated product support manager guidebook

The Pentagon recently released an updated version of its Product Support Manager Guidebook.

The document, dated April 2016 and 12 pages shorter than the November 2015 version, "reflects . . . policy changes and the increased emphasis on support and controlling life-cycle cost." Further:

There have been a number of important changes impacting product support since the 2011 release of the PSM Guidebook. Congress has increased the number and scope of PSM responsibilities. Updates to the Better Buying Power initiatives have emphasized critical thinking in the Department's methods for developing, producing, and supporting weapon systems. Affordability, cost consciousness, and innovation permeate all areas of acquisition and sustainment. Heightened emphasis on the effective use of performance-based logistics arrangements promises to improve sustainment performance and cost control. Revisions to procedures governing the Defense Acquisition System emphasize the criticality of life-cycle management and formalize the purpose of the life-cycle sustainment plan as a key program management and decision support tool.