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en-USJuly 2012 en-US The operating and support cost analysis model (OSCAM) was engineered by QinetiQ Ltd. (for-merly as HVR Consulting Services Ltd.) as a joint development with the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence and the United States Department of Defense (DOD) in 1996, and is sponsored by the Naval Center for Cost Analysis. e purpose of the model is to enable esti -mating of operating and support (O&S) costs for ships and shipboard systems leveraging system dynamics simula -tion. OSCAM is now in its 16th year of operation, with variants currently available for ships, shipboard systems, land vehicles, and aircraft. It is designed to be used by cost estimators to develop robust and defensible O&S cost esti -mates and to quickly identify the cost impacts that stem from what-if drills. It can also be used by platform design teams, engineers, logisticians, nancial analysts, and bud -get analysts throughout the platform life cycle. O&S cost estimating in the U.S. Navy In recent years, O&S costs have received much greater focus. e Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act (WSARA) of 2009 generally established the need for more and better cost analysis on acquisition pro -grams. It specically addressed O&S cost estimating by requiring a new report on monitoring of operating and support costs for major acquisition programs and by stipulating consideration of competition through -out the O&S phase of the lifecycle. OSCAM ENABLES COST ESTIMATING FOR SHIPS AND SHIPBOARD SYSTEMS BY MARY MERTZ AND STEPHEN CURRAM www.sname.org/sname/mt