Course VPP 301 – Life Cycle Cost Analysis
Course Description
Organizations award and sustain programs worth substantial sums every year, yet most of a system's lifetime cost is locked in long before it reaches production. This five-day course equips acquisition and program management professionals with the tools to identify, estimate, and compare the full total ownership cost of competing alternatives — covering total ownership cost, cost estimating, economic analysis, sensitivity and risk analysis, and procurement application — so budgeting, source selection, and sustainment decisions are made with a complete picture of cost.
Course Objectives/Key Competencies
The course starts with an overview of LCCA and Total Ownership Cost and progresses gradually to more complex elements over the course of the week, building toward a capstone application:
- Total Ownership Cost: Understand the full cost of a system across its life cycle — research & development, investment, operating & support, and disposal — not just its acquisition price.
- Cost Estimating: Learn the methods, data sources, and cost estimating relationships (CERs) used to build a defensible estimate for each cost element.
- Economic Analysis: Apply discounting, present value, and inflation adjustments so alternatives can be compared on equal footing over time.
- Sensitivity & Risk Analysis: Identify the cost drivers and assumptions that matter most, and quantify the uncertainty around an estimate.
- Procurement Application: Assemble a complete LCCA and use it to inform and brief an acquisition or sustainment decision.