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1. A Mixed-Method Analysis of Schedule and Cost Growth in Defense Acquisition Programs

   Hans, A.; Chaudhari, A.M.; Bilionis, I.; Panchal, J.H. (August 2021, ASME IDETC)

   null (Ed.)

   Cost and schedule overruns are common in the procurement of large-scale defense acquisition programs. Current work focuses on identifying the root causes of cost growth and schedule delays in the defense acquisition programs. There is need for a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis of cost and schedule overruns which takes into account program factor such as, technology maturity, design maturity, initial acquisition time, and program complexity. Such analysis requires an easy to access database for program-specific data about how an acquisition programs’ technical and financial characteristics vary over the time. To fulfill this need, the objective of this paper is twofold: (i) to develop a database of major US defense weapons programs which includes details of the technical and financial characteristics and how they vary over time, and (ii) to test various hypotheses about the interdependence of such characteristics using the collected data. To achieve the objective, we use a mixed-method analysis on schedule and cost growth data available in the U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO's) defense acquisitions annual assessments during the period 2003-2017. We extracted both analytical and textual data from original reports into Excel files and further created an easy to access database accessible from a Python environment. The analysis reveals that technology immaturity is the major driver of cost and schedule growth during the early stages of the acquisition programs while technical inefficiencies drive cost overruns and schedule delays during the later stages. Further, we find that the acquisition programs with longer initial length do not necessarily have higher greater cost growth. The dataset and the results provide a useful starting point for the research community for modeling cost and schedule overruns, and for practitioners to inform their systems acquisition processes. 

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2. A Review of Funding Mechanisms for US Floodplain Buyouts

   https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310112  

   Peterson, Kelsey; Apadula, Emily; Salvesen, David; Hino, Miyuki; Kihslinger, Rebecca; BenDor, Todd K. (December 2020, Sustainability)

   Increases in extreme weather events have caused extensive flooding across the United States. In response, federal, state, and local governments have broadened their flood mitigation strategies to include acquisition and demolition of flood-damaged homes (“buyouts”). Little work has documented or analyzed the range of strategies for funding buyouts. Federal programs provide the bulk of funding, but these programs are often slow. Also, state and local governments struggle to meet cost-match requirements. We present and analyze a nationwide census of buyout funding programs (n = 34), which draw on five primary funding mechanisms. We find that state and local governments are using a range of traditional and innovative financial mechanisms, including municipal/green bonds, revolving loan funds, local option sales taxes, and stormwater utility fees, as viable tools for funding buyouts. These tools may promote more autonomy from federal government mitigation programs, and ultimately, faster buyout processes. 

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3. The Cost and Price of Public Access to Research Data: A Synthesis

   Steinhart, G; Skinner, K (October 2024, Zenodo)

   Beginning on or before 31 December 2025, all recipients of United States federal research funding will be required to make their federally funded scholarly outputs, including scientific data, freely available via public access venues with no delays or embargos. This paper focuses on research data as one of the key scholarly output types impacted by the requirements outlined in the Memorandum on Ensuring Free, Immediate and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research issued by the US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), commonly called the “Nelson memo”. This paper sets out working definitions of four key terms: cost, price, reasonable, and allowable. Using these terms, we describe some of the pathways research data take to final publication, and summarize some of the extensive body of research on the costs of research data curation and sharing. In the process, we look at cost modeling experimentation in the fields of research data management and digital preservation to consider what might be relevant from their approaches. 

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4. The Cost and Price of Public Access to Research Data: A Synthesis

   Steinhart, G; Skinner, K (October 2024, Zenodo)

   Beginning on or before 31 December 2025, all recipients of United States federal research funding will be required to make their federally funded scholarly outputs, including scientific data, freely available via public access venues with no delays or embargos. This paper focuses on research data as one of the key scholarly output types impacted by the requirements outlined in the Memorandum on Ensuring Free, Immediate and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research issued by the US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), commonly called the “Nelson memo”. This paper sets out working definitions of four key terms: cost, price, reasonable, and allowable. Using these terms, we describe some of the pathways research data take to final publication, and summarize some of the extensive body of research on the costs of research data curation and sharing. In the process, we look at cost modelling experimentation in the fields of research data management and digital preservation to consider what might be relevant from their approaches. 

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5. Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Renters’ Experiences with Maintenance Delays in the United States

   https://doi.org/10.1177/15356841231223684  

   Schmidt, Steven (February 2024, City & Community)

   Structural racism and individual discrimination contribute to racial inequalities in poor housing conditions in the United States. Less is known about whether and how structural racism and individual discrimination shape a parallel, but distinct, process that is also consequential for family wellbeing: experiencing housing unit maintenance delays. Maintenance delays transform acute problems into chronic stressors and increase exposure to physical hazards over time. Using the 2013 American Housing Survey, I examine racial/ethnic disparities in maintenance delays across non-Hispanic White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian/Alaska Native renters. Given that 2.3 million low-income households rent using Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs), a federal housing assistance program with requirements around repair timing, I also examine how renting with a voucher shapes maintenance delays. There are three principal findings. First, White renters are more likely to report timely repairs than either Black or Hispanic renters. Second, for Black renters, both structural racism experienced in rental markets and individual discrimination drive this disparity, whereas Hispanic renters’ diverging maintenance experiences are largely explained by pathways impacted by structural racism. Third, renting with an HCV is not associated with repair timeliness for any racial/ethnic group. Taken together, the findings suggest that racial/ethnic disparities in substandard housing emerge not only through unequal exposure to housing quality problems but also through unequal responses to these issues. 

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