Download or read book Implementing Performance based Services Acquisition PBSA written by John A. Ausink and published by RAND Corporation. This book was released on 2002 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Air Force is implementing performance-based practices in its service contracts to improve quality and reduce costs. Earlier Project AIR FORCE research examined implementation in installation support services. The project has now examined purchased services that support weapon system development and sustainment ('systems' services). Under performance-based services acquisition (PBSA), buyers should (1) describe what service is desired (not how to do it), (2) use measurable performance standards and quality assurance plans, (3) specify procedures for reductions in fee or price when services do not meet contract requirements, and (4) include performance incentives where appropriate. The authors conducted interviews at an Air Logistics Center and a Product Center to learn whether and how service contracts included these performance-based practices. Many at the two Centers felt that it is difficult for systems service contracts to satisfy all four of the PBSA criteria. To satisfy the requirement to use "measurable performance standards," for example, some personnel believe that the desired result of a service must be known in advance and objective data must be collected frequently to measure performance against that result. This cannot be easily done for many systems services such as engineering support and advisory and assistance services. Despite this difficulty, however, both Centers use a performance-based approach (applying the other three criteria) to purchase many services, and many personnel felt that they can determine and convey whether the contractor met their needs. The authors conclude that many of the approaches used by the Centers satisfy the intent of the criteria.
Download or read book Implementing Best Purchasing and Supply Management Practices Lessons from Innovative Commercial Firms written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Air Force is under pressure to maintain or improve performance while reducing costs so that it can pay for new weapon system.
Download or read book Federal Contracts Report written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 938 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fostering Accountability written by Mark F. Testa and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2010-02-08 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By refocusing the emphasis on developing policies based on agency data, instead of purely reactive approaches that grasp at solutions and often fall short, Fostering Accountability guides administrators in monitoring outcomes, using evidence to select interventions to enhance results, and applying management strategies to evaluate and improve these efforts.
Download or read book MITRE Systems Engineering Guide written by and published by . This book was released on 2012-06-05 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Performance Based Contracting in the Air Force A Report on Experiences in the Field written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A performance-based contract tells the seller what the buyer wants done, not how to do it, and since 1991 it has been the policy of the federal government that agencies use performance-based contracting methods to the maximum extent practicable when acquiring services. Department of Defense interest in performance-based contracting has increased in recent years, and in April 2000 the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology directed that 50 percent of service acquisitions be performance based by the year 2005. A variety of Air Force instructions, publications, and policies are in place to aggressively implement this policy. The primary goal of this study is to use examples of successful Air Force applications of performance-based services acquisition (PBSA) to illustrate how to pursue these practices elsewhere. In this documented briefing, the results of interviews with personnel at Air Force bases that have used PBSA are arranged as a "walk-through" of the process of applying these techniques to the development of a contract. On the basis of these interview results, we reach several conclusions about what seems to work in the field and what needs to be improved, and we then summarize these conclusions in a list of lessons learned from experiences in PBSA implementation.
Download or read book Innovative Wastewater Treatment Resource Recovery Technologies Impacts on Energy Economy and Environment written by Juan M. Lema and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2017-06-15 with total page 690 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces the 3R concept applied to wastewater treatment and resource recovery under a double perspective. Firstly, it deals with innovative technologies leading to: Reducing energy requirements, space and impacts; Reusing water and sludge of sufficient quality; and Recovering resources such as energy, nutrients, metals and chemicals, including biopolymers. Besides targeting effective C,N&P removal, other issues such as organic micropollutants, gases and odours emissions are considered. Most of the technologies analysed have been tested at pilot- or at full-scale. Tools and methods for their Economic, Environmental, Legal and Social impact assessment are described. The 3R concept is also applied to Innovative Processes design, considering different levels of innovation: Retrofitting, where novel units are included in more conventional processes; Re-Thinking, which implies a substantial flowsheet modification; and Re-Imagining, with completely new conceptions. Tools are presented for Modelling, Optimising and Selecting the most suitable plant layout for each particular scenario from a holistic technical, economic and environmental point of view.
Download or read book BIM Handbook written by Rafael Sacks and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-03-25 with total page 648 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The BIM Handbook is an extensively researched and meticulously written book, showing evidence of years of work rather than something that has been quickly put together in the course of a few months. It brings together most of the current information about BIM, its history, as well as its potential future in one convenient place, and can serve as a handy reference book on BIM for anyone who is involved in the design, construction, and operation of buildings and needs to know about the technologies that support it. The need for such a book is indisputable, and it is terrific that Chuck Eastman and his team were able to step up to the plate and make it happen. Thanks to their efforts, anyone in the AEC industry looking for a deeper understanding of BIM now knows exactly where to look for it." AECbytes book review, August 28, 2008 (www.aecbytes.com/review/2008/BIMHandbook.html) DISCOVER BIM: A BETTER WAY TO BUILD BETTER BUILDINGS Building Information Modeling (BIM) offers a novel approach to design, construction, and facility management in which a digital representation of the building process is used to facilitate the exchange and interoperability of information in digital format. BIM is beginning to change the way buildings look, the way they function, and the ways in which they are designed and built. The BIM Handbook, Second Edition provides an in-depth understanding of BIM technologies, the business and organizational issues associated with its implementation, and the profound advantages that effective use of BIM can provide to all members of a project team. Updates to this edition include: Completely updated material covering the current practice and technology in this fast-moving field Expanded coverage of lean construction and its use of BIM, with special focus on Integrated Project Delivery throughout the book New insight on the ways BIM facilitates sustainable building New information on interoperability schemas and collaboration tools Six new case studies Painting a colorful and thorough picture of the state of the art in building information modeling, the BIM Handbook, Second Edition guides readers to successful implementations, helping them to avoid needless frustration and costs and take full advantage of this paradigm-shifting approach to construct better buildings that consume fewer materials and require less time, labor, and capital resources.
Download or read book Transformation planning guidance written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2003 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States is transitioning from an industrial age to an information age military. This transition requires transformation in warfighting and the way we organize to support the warfighter. Although the end-state of transformation cannot be fully defined in advance, we do know some of the necessary prerequisites for transformation. In particular, we know that early transformation requires exploiting information technology to reform defense business practices and to create new combinations of capabilities, operating concepts, organizational relationships and training regimes. Successful transformation of U.S. military forces and Department of Defense (DoD) processes requires a strategy with clear objectives. Effective implementation of the strategy requires commitment and attention from the Department's senior leadership and clearly assigned roles and responsibilities. This document communicates the Department's strategy for transformation and assigns senior leader roles and responsibilities to ensure implementation of the strategy. Senior leadership commitment to transformation will mobilize the rest of the Department and stimulate the bottom-up innovation required for successful transformation. Effective implementation of the transformation strategy is an essential prerequisite for strategic management of the Defense program. It will allow the Department to define transformation investments that address future risk with enough specificity that they can be balanced against the other three primary risk areas identified in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR): force management, operational, and institutional risk.
Download or read book Human Viruses Diseases Treatments and Vaccines written by Shamim I. Ahmad and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-05-19 with total page 745 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses current evidence on human viruses and provides an extensive coverage of newly emerged viruses and current strategies for treatment. Offering a new perspective in view of the re-emergence of Ebola in African countries and Dengue in India and Pakistan, the contents include chapters on emergence, pathogenicity, epidemiology and vaccine uptake. Human Viruses: Diseases, Treatments and Vaccines: The New Insights discusses a range of viruses from the most common such as Influenza and Hepatitis to Zika, Poliomyelitis and Chikungunya among many others. It is authored by a team of experts on viral disease and will be of immense use to virologists, public health experts and clinicians.
Download or read book Implementing Performance Based Services Acquisition PBSA Perspectives from an Air Logistics Center and a Product Center written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During April and May 2001, we visited an Air Force Air Logistics Center (ALC) and a Product Center to explore the use of performance-based practices in their service acquisition activities. We decided to conceal the identities of these two Centers to encourage personnel to share the challenges as well as the successes they are encountering in implementing new practices. This Documented Briefing describes what we learned during our interviews and through review of solicitations, contracts, surveillance documents, and incentive plans associated with selected purchased services.
Download or read book Soil Degradable Bioplastics for a Sustainable Modern Agriculture written by Mario Malinconico and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-02-14 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book shows how the use of biodegradable plastics in agriculture can have a profound positive impact on plasticulture. Starting with an organic chemistry approach to biodegradable and compostable plastics, both natural and synthetic, it then analyzes the technological and agronomic aspects of existing bioplastics for protected cultivation (mulching, direct cover, low tunnels). It describes the new sprayable biodegradable mulching method, which is based on the use of waterborne polysaccharides and cellulosic fibers. A further chapter describes the research and technology of biodegradable plastics for different agricultural practices. It also includes chapters on life cycle assessment (LCA) of biodegradable plastics for agriculture, and existing and developing standards in the field. It is a valuable resource for agronomists, chemical and materials engineers, polymer technologists and scientists, as well as for a more general readership interested in the application of green chemistry principles to the vast world of crop production. Mario Malinconico is Research Director at the Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials, National Research Council, Italy. /p
Download or read book Network Pharmacology written by Shao Li and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-09-29 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces “network pharmacology” as an emerging frontier subject of systematic drug research in the era of artificial intelligence and big data. Network Pharmacology is an original subject of fusion system biology, bioinformatics, network science and other related disciplines. It emphasizes on starting from the overall perspective of the system level and biological networks, the analysis of the laws of molecular association between drugs and their treatment objects, reveals the systematic pharmacological mechanisms of drugs, and guides the research and development of new drugs and clinical diagnosis and treatment. After it was proposed, network pharmacology has been paid attention by researchers, and it has been rapidly developed and widely used. In order to systematically reveal the biological basis of diagnosis and treatment in traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine, we proposed a new concept of "network target" for the first time, which has become the core theory of "network pharmacology". The core principle of a network target is to construct a biological network that can be used to decipher complex diseases. The network is then used as the therapeutic target, to which multicomponent remedies are applied. This book mainly includes four parts: 1) The concept and theory of network pharmacology; 2) Common analysis methods, databases and software in network pharmacological research; 3) Typical cases of traditional Chinese medicine modernization and modern drug research based on network pharmacology; 4) Network pharmacology practice process based on drugs and diseases.
Download or read book Metaheuristics in Machine Learning Theory and Applications written by Diego Oliva and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on with total page 765 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a collection of the most recent approaches that combine metaheuristics and machine learning. Some of the methods considered in this book are evolutionary, swarm, machine learning, and deep learning. The chapters were classified based on the content; then, the sections are thematic. Different applications and implementations are included; in this sense, the book provides theory and practical content with novel machine learning and metaheuristic algorithms. The chapters were compiled using a scientific perspective. Accordingly, the book is primarily intended for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Science, Engineering, and Computational Mathematics and is useful in courses on Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Machine Learning, among others. Likewise, the book is useful for research from the evolutionary computation, artificial intelligence, and image processing communities.
Download or read book Public Policy and Private Enterprise written by and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Clustering Algorithms written by John A. Hartigan and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 1975 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shows how Galileo, Newton, and Einstein tried to explain gravity. Discusses the concept of microgravity and NASA's research on gravity and microgravity.
Download or read book Performance based Contracting in the Air Force written by John A. Ausink and published by RAND Corporation. This book was released on 2001 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In its performance-based services acquisitions activites, the Air Force focuses on telling a provider what the Air Force needs rather than how the provider should meet that need.
