About the DoD R-TOC program

The R-TOC Working Group consists of representatives of key OSD functional organizations and Service staff R-TOC organizations. The Working Group meets regularly to review progress, identify and resolve problems, and coordinate activities.

The 30 Pilot Programs were instructed to develop an R-TOC baseline and implementation plan. These plans were submitted in October 1999. Other activities by the Pilot Programs included:

• Identifying proposed R-TOC initiatives (funded and unfunded)
• Submitting quarterly reports and lessons learned
• Documenting obstacles to accomplishment of R-TOC goals and proposed methods to surmount these obstacles.

Approaches to R-TOC

The Pilot programs have selected a wide range of activities to meet R-TOC goals. These include:

RM&S improvement

• Design in producibility and maintainability improvements: AAAV, Crusader, Comanche, LPD-17, AAAV
• Identify and replace O&S cost drivers/low MTBF parts and components: Abrams, CH-47, C-5, EA-6B, H-60, F-16, JSTARS, others
• Installation of new technologies to reduce costs, improve quality of life, and improve readiness: Common Ship, CVN-68 carriers, Aegis Cruisers, LPD-17
• Coordination of requirements for legacy and acquisition systems/upgrades: Fire Support C2, Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Precision Fires, H-60
• Installation of commercial equipment to reduce O&S and improve reliability: C-KC-135, Common Ship, EA-6B, Aegis Cruisers, CVN-68 carriers, LPD-17

Logistics response time

• Direct vendor delivery (DVD) and prime vendor support contracts: H-60, HEMTT, EA-6B, others
• Commercial supply chain management strategies: Aviation Support Equipment, AWACS, F-117, others
• Performance based logistics support contracts or service level agreements: Abrams, B-1, Aviation Support Equipment, F-16, others
• Tech order digitization/electronic tech manuals: B-1, C-5, F-16, C/KC-135
• Integrated digital environment (IDE): LPD-17
• Reliability centered maintenance: EA-6B

Competitive product support

• Contractor logistics support: F-117, JSTARS, ITAS, others
• Public/private partnership: HEMTT (DLA and Oshkosh Truck); Abrams (Anniston and Honeywell/GDLS)

While the specific savings achieved by the R-TOC Pilot Programs are in reducing the overall cost of DoD systems, the more important purpose of the Pilot Programs is to document what works and share this information with other DoD programs that are not R-TOC Pilots. To share information with other programs that are interested in reducing ownership costs, the R-TOC working group is developing a set of R-TOC "best practices," which are shown in another section of this web site (click here).

R-TOC Benefits

The experience of the Pilot Programs has shown that R-TOC works. Pilot Programs have undertaken a wide variety of initiatives that have improved system reliability, improved supply chain responsiveness, and promoted improved logistics support. Because they represent a wide range of acquisition phases and systems/subsystem types, the R-TOC Pilot Programs provide an opportunity to test almost every conceivable TOC reduction initiative. These examples provide a fertile storehouse of Best Practices that can be adapted or applied by other programs.

The CVN-68 Carriers Pilot Program cited the benefits that are being achieved throughout the Carriers PEO:

"PEO Carriers has applied the R-TOC approach across the entire Aircraft Carrier fleet, including the conventionally powered carriers and the new development carriers. This will allow benefits from new development efforts (CVN 77, CVNX 1 and 2) to be applied to the existing fleet of Aircraft Carriers. Additionally, it allows R-TOC initiatives to be applied to the new construction efforts, as they are being designed and built."

But, even if there were no leverage to other programs, just the savings and other achievements of the Pilot Programs themselves are significant. Because the Pilot Programs include some of the principal O&S cost drivers for each Service (e.g., Abrams tank, Apache helicopter, CVN-68 carriers, Aegis cruisers, C-5, F-16, B-1, and C/KC-135 tankers), the savings achieved within these programs have a significant impact on overall O&S spending. The estimated O&S savings achieved by the 29 Pilot Programs for FY05 exceed $1.3B, with savings generally increasing in subsequent years.

Sometimes, the survival of the program can depend on the program's success in reducing TOC. General Joseph W. Ralston, former commander of Air Combat Command and current Commander, U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, has observed that "B-1 cost of ownership is more threatening to the aircraft than the enemy."

Because so many of the R-TOC Pilots are themselves high-demand weapon systems, small O&S cost reductions or readiness or supply chain improvements can make drastic improvements in our force readiness. Many of the R-TOC Pilots (e.g., CH-47, Guardrail, ITAS, SLAM-ER, EA-6B, AWACS, JSTARS, B-1, C/KC-135, C-5, C-17) have played key roles in support of Operation Enduring Freedom or other frontline operations in the war on terrorism, so reductions in maintenance costs, improvements in OR rates, or improvements in the parts supply pipeline can have a major impact on our force potential.