Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution in Comparative Organizations. Volume 3: Case Studies of Selected Non-DoD Federal Agencies

The U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD's) Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) System was originally developed in the 1960s as a structured approach for planning long-term resource development, assessing program cost-effectiveness, and aligning resources to strategies. Yet changes to the strategic environment, the industrial base, and the nature of military capabilities have raised the question of whether U.S. defense budgeting processes are still well aligned with national security needs. Congress, in its National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, called for the establishment of a Commission on PPBE Reform, which took shape as a legislative commission in 2022. As part of its data collection efforts, the Commission on PPBE Reform asked the National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center operated by the RAND National Security Research Division, to conduct case studies of budgeting processes across nine comparative organizations: five international defense organizations and four other U.S. federal government agencies. The two international case studies of near-peer competitors were specifically requested by Congress, while the other seven cases were selected in close partnership with the commission.