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A nonintegrated analytical environment, such as the PDE, impedes the efficient operation of a RAND FFRDC study relative to existing arrangements by eliminating the alignment of incentives between researcher and analytical environment.

• The additional burdens imposed by the PDE process require delays and regulatory burden that do not improve the final research product. These additional costs could be outweighed by benefits from efficiencies or data safeguarding; however, the authors find limited evidence of realized efficiencies in the research process or improvements in data safeguarding relative to existing, required RAND FFRDC processes.

The PDE could serve as an alternative analytical environment for studies and analyses instead of as a single centralized environment.

• A single centralized analytical environment for research processes within DoD has the potential to reduce analytical capacity and discourage researchers from accumulating database-specific knowledge.
• The PDE represents a potential opportunity for DoD to engage academic researchers outside of existing research support organizations with recurring DoD sponsor relationships.
• The addition of the PDE as an alternative environment (i.e., a complement) instead of as a substitute strengthens DoD's analytical capacity.