全球智库信息集成服务系统

• USAF policies and responsibilities for SCRM are widely dispersed, with limited alignment, coordination, and information-sharing.
• USAF places implicit and explicit trust in its vendors to manage their supply chain risks sufficiently to protect USAF from the effects of disruptions.
• SCRM analysts have a limited understanding of which suppliers are actually in the supply chain of a given program or weapon system beyond the first tier.
• Many sources of SCRM-relevant data exist but are in diverse formats and can be difficult to access, integrate, and analyze.
• The USAF acquisition workforce of 2020 has had limited on-the-job training and exposure to the full range of supply chain risks and how to collect sufficient information to understand them.

In recent years, policymakers have increased emphasis on national security risks deriving from globalization of weapon system supply chains to include foreign suppliers. This report recommends specific ways in which the U.S. Air Force (USAF) can evolve its organization, policy, training, and data practices to avoid and mitigate the effects of supply chain risk.

The authors reviewed academic literature on supply chain risk management (SCRM); analyzed federal, Department of Defense (DoD), and USAF policy and regulations related to supply chain management and acquisitions; and interviewed personnel from across USAF and DoD. They found that USAF SCRM is hampered by widely dispersed policies and responsibilities; challenges in identifying, acquiring, integrating, and analyzing SCRM-relevant data; overreliance on contractors to manage their own supply chain risks without sufficient incentives; and insufficient SCRM training for acquisition professionals.

Many coordinated actions have the potential help USAF address these SCRM weaknesses. An analytic organization to conduct centralized analyses that are beyond the scope of program offices may be helpful. Program offices may benefit from routinely collecting bills of materials and lists of associated suppliers and critical items from contractors; obtaining proper data rights; and considering the value of technical data packages to SCRM. A comprehensive plan to manage SCRM-relevant data collected throughout government may help USAF facilitate data integration and analysis. An ongoing, formal, enterprise-level SCRM curriculum to train acquisition professionals on supply chain risks may help USAF personnel consider such risks in source selection and other decisions.

• Chapter One

  Introduction

• Chapter Two

  Organization and Policy for Supply Chain Risk Management

• Chapter Three

  Incentivizing and Enforcing Supply Chain Risk Management

• Chapter Four

  Supply Chain Risk Management Requires a Deep Knowledge of the System

• Chapter Five

  Limited Data Available to Understand Supply Chain

• Chapter Six

  Data on Suppliers Are Disaggregated and Difficult to Ana

• Chapter Seven

  Summary and Conclusions

• Appendix

  Approximate String Matching of Company Names