A Study of the Effect of Dual Sourcing on Operation and Support

Past research on dual sourcing dealt with acquisition. Since typically the majority of a major systems cost occurs during operation and support, this has left a large gap in the literature. Also, the impact of dual sourcing on supportability and readiness has not been examined. This thesis is a first attempt to plug that gap. This was attempted using a life-cycle cost model, through case studies, and expert opinion. Although an appropriate cost model was developed, cost data was not available to exercise it. Current database have not been in place long enough to provide the necessary data. Also many of the cost elements of interest are not collected. The literature, case studies, and experts, revealed that the primary determinant of the impact of dual sourcing on operation and support comes from the degree of configuration standardization imposed by the method used to create or maintain additional sources. For this reason experts in standardization provided a wealth of detail useful to this study. Four of the methods used to create additional sources put identical items in inventory. Form, fit and function dual sourcing does not. If identical items are produced, there may be configuration control problems among manufacturers, but competition in spare parts and maintenance can be a benefit.