Abstract for:OSCAM:22 years of making better operating and support estimates of fleets of ships and aircraft for the US Navy

OSCAM is widely used by the US Navy for estimating operating and support costs for ship classes and aircraft types.  It plays an important role in developing submissions for milestone decisions during the US Department of Defense procurement process.  It is 22 years since the first OSCAM model was developed.  It has changed from being a niche model to a standard tool used by many cost analysts, replacing bespoke spreadsheet models.

An overview of OSCAM will be provided including a description of the key principles behind the System Dynamics model, which is used to link platform activity with operating and support costs. A brief history of OSCAM will be given, with an overview of the equipment programmes that it has been used for and the types of decision-making it has supported.  Both the OSCAM Ship and OSCAM Air have had major System Dynamics model refreshes, having learned lessons from the early versions.  Key themes, drivers and lessons learned for these changes will be described, along with some challenging concepts to model. The presentation will conclude with a review from customers on how OSCAM has impacted the ability of the US Navy to estimate operating and support costs and undertake what-if analysis.