Program Management

Total Life Cycle Systems Management (TLCSM)

Total Life-Cycle Systems Management (TLCSM) is a system development approach of managing the development of a system from inception to disposal. The Program Manager (PM) is the single point of accountability for accomplishing program objectives for TLCSM. Consequently, the PM is responsible for the implementation, management, and/or oversight of activities associated with the system’s development, production, fielding, sustainment, and disposal. Performance-Based Life-Cycle Product Support is the strategy PM will use in implementing life-cycle management.

The PM shall apply human systems integration to optimize total system performance (hardware, software, and human), operational effectiveness, and suitability, survivability, safety, and affordability. They shall also consider supportability, life cycle costs, performance, and schedule comparable in making program decisions. Planning for Operation and Support and the estimation of Total Ownership Costs (TOC) shall begin as early as possible. Supportability, a key component of performance, shall be considered throughout the system life cycle.

Key PM Responsibilities include:

  • Developing and implementing a life-cycle sustainment strategy acquiring an integrated product support package based on achieving key sustainment performance metrics (e.g., materiel availability, materiel reliability, mean downtime, ownership costs, footprint, etc.)
  • Providing continuous, reliable, affordable support in accordance with performance agreements with force providers.
  • Ensuring the system is supported at optimum levels in accordance with performance agreements among government and industry support providers throughout the life cycle.
  • Maintaining visibility into cost/capability/risk decisions across the life cycle.

During acquisition, the PM’s focus is primarily through the acquisition community chain (e.g. the OSD, Service Secretariat, Program Executive Officer (PEO) chain, etc.) with requirements input from the user and sustainment communities. The focus is to base major decisions on system-wide analyses with the full understanding of the life-cycle consequences of those decisions on system performance and affordability. It includes the: [1]

  • Specification of design parameters for sustainment related system performance capabilities.
  • Application of systems engineering to determine the right balance between the system’s design requirements and the logistics support requirements to sustain the operational capabilities at an affordable price. This includes using supporting sustainment metrics (e.g., Mean Down Time, Logistics Footprint, etc.) as well as enablers (e.g. condition-based maintenance, diagnostics, prognostics, corrosion protection/mitigation, etc.) with their associated metrics to achieve the mandatory sustainment metrics.
  • Planning for, resourcing, and executing the design, acquisition, management, and fielding of an integrated product support package to sustain the maintenance and support concepts to meet the materiel availability requirements.

– See Future Logistics Enterprise (FLE)

AcqLinks and References:

Updated: 7/16/2021

Rank: G1

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