Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
2/5/2016
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Thursday said that program management and integrated schedule systems might improve implementation of the B61-12 life-extension program (LEP) and called for an increase in the number of federal staff to better oversee progress.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Department of Defense (DoD) initiated a life-extension program in 2010 to consolidate four versions of the B61 nuclear bomb into a refurbished B61-12, to be completed by 2024 at an estimated cost of about $8.9 billion. The consolidation will cut in half the number of nuclear gravity bombs in the U.S. stockpile, which maintain the nuclear deterrent in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states, the GAO said. There are now 180 B61s deployed at bases in Europe.
B61-12 is the first LEP to use earned value management, “a tool that measures the planned versus actual value of work accomplished in a given period, which may help NNSA ensure that work progresses on budget and on schedule,” the GAO found. Each NNSA site reports earned value data monthly, which helps management pinpoint changes and potential delays in program schedules, according to the report. It also pointed out past NNSA and DoD program management difficulties, such as unrealistic schedules and inconsistent cost baselines that led to delays and excess cost in the W76 warhead and legacy B61 bomb LEPs.
The B61-12 LEP is also the first to integrate schedules and cost estimates for activities across all NNSA sites to improve baseline estimates, something the agency had not done during past LEPs, the GAO said. A summary NNSA integrated master schedule is used to integrate site schedules.
The NNSA and the Air Force use a risk management database to address potential component failure and related risks, congressional auditors found. However, officials have said it is too early to determine whether planned risk management activities are adequate for the B61-12, while production schedule constraints further complicate risk management efforts.
The GAO said the B61-12 program faces some management challenges, such as staff shortages. It said that despite an increase in federal staff from three full-time equivalent staff to eight as of last October – along with contractor staff of around 12 full-time equivalent members – the NNSA “needs two to three times more personnel in the federal program manager’s office to ensure sufficient federal management and oversight.”
The GAO noted the NNSA and Air Force total cost estimates for the B61-12 LEP have more than doubled over the last few years and the production date has been delayed from 2017 to 2020. It said most of the program spending is yet to come, and that as of last September, the LEP has cost about $1.6 billion. The NNSA had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.
