Benefits of the Defense Standardization Program

Military specifications and standards have been repeatedly criticized by the defense industry, program managers, the General Accounting Office, and Congress as being excessively restrictive, obsolete, and costly. The Defense Standardization Program DSP, created in the early 1950s, was designed to preclude those problems by eliminating unnecessary specifications, consolidating others, and increasing the use of non-Government standards. Although slow to develop, the DSP has taken on added importance within the past several years because of Department of Defense emphasis on bolstering defense industrial competitiveness, total quality management, and maximizing use of commercially available equipment and material. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command NAVFAC has responded by replacing more than 2,000 military specifications with non-Government standards. It also has been instrumental in cancelling unneeded or duplicate specifications. The benefits from those actions are substantial. They also justify continued effort by NAVFAC to lessen the burden of specifications and standards, principally on Navy procurements.