This thesis analyzes the current Planning, Programming and Budgeting System (PPBS) processes used in the military services. It will provide an upbasis for further study of PPBS. The thesis provides an overview of the PPBS at the Department of Defense level and describes the practices in place for the service. In each chapter there is an examination of the PPBS organization or corporate structure for the respective service. Additionally, each chapter examines the planning phase processes to develop the programming guidance. Next is a description of the Program Objectives Memorandum (POM) development and Budget Estimate Submission (BES) formulation. Following description of the practices for each of the services, there is a comparison. The comparison revealed two different methods being used by the services. The Army uses a decentralized approach for all inputs to the different processes. The Navy uses a decentralized approach for only the BES inputs and the Air Force uses a decentralized approach for only the POM input. The Marine Corps uses a centralized approach for all inputs. A centralized approach for review is used by all services, but at differing levels.

The Planning, Programming, Budgeting System (PPBS) is the Department of Defense's formal process for arriving at resource allocation decisions. Its purpose is the translation of national objectives and strategy, strategy and military operations planning, military force types and levels into specific defense programs and the development of defense programs into a budget request. As stated in Department of Defense Directive 7045.14, 'The ultimate objective of PPBS shall be to provide the operational commanders-in-chief the best possible mix of forces, equipment, and support attainable within fiscal constraints. The purpose of this study project is to review the development of the Department of Defense's Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System from a historical perspective in order to gain a better understanding of the evolutionary development in PPBS, not only as a resource allocation and decision making process, but also as a vehicle for achieving organizational change.

In this book we introduce the basics of the federal budget process, provide an historical background on the foundation and development of the budget process, indicate how defense spending may be measured and how it impacts the economy, describe and analyze how Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution System (PPBES) operates and should function to produce the annual defense budget proposal to Congress, analyze the role of Congress in debating and deciding on defense appropriations and the politics of the budgetary process including the use of supplemental appropriations to fund national defense, analyze budget execution dynamics, identify the principal participants in the defense budget process in the Pentagon and military commands, assess federal and Department of Defense (DoD) financial management and business process challenges and issues, and describe the processes used to resource acquisition of defense war fighting assets, including reforms in acquisition and linkages between PPBES and the defense acquisition process.