Author Description

The purpose of this report is to investigate the feasibility of supporting United States Marine Corps (USMC) Engineering Equipment operation and maintenance requirements through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The reason for this investigation is that the Marine Corps has realized that the current operating structure is not cost effective and that resources are being used up that could be better spent elsewhere. The report evaluates what a PFI is and how it is structured to operate, using information provided by the United Kingdom (UK) Ministry of Defense, which is considering a PFI solution to its engineer equipment needs. The UK Ministry of Defense has used PFIs extensively over the past decade to meet a variety of service support requirements. Next, the report will describe USMC engineer equipment requirements in terms of supporting structures, maintenance processes, life cycle management, missions and capabilities, and emerging concepts. The objective is to define what the actual USMC requirements are in each of these areas to ensure that they can be addressed in a proposed PFI. The next objective is to determine what the Marine Corps core competencies are (those things it either does well or needs to do in- house) and what activities or processes it does that are in need of improvement. Based on this information, the report will propose a PFI structure that would meet all USMC engineer equipment operation and maintenance needs. The draft PFI attempts to address all of the particular requirements that the Marine Corps would need to consider in this type of contractual relationship. (3 tables, 5 figures)