An historical case study of planning and control under uncertainty: The weapons acquisition process for the U.S. ironclad Monitor

Abstract

Military necessity has long forced decision-makers to act when critical information is still either unreliable or insufficient. Using the Defense Department's current model of the major systems acquisition process, this article examines how information was used for decision-making, planning, and control in the acquisition process for the Civil War ironclad, Monitor. Chosen because time and cost estimates, technological feasibility, performance characteristics, and alternatives were all unknown when acquisition decisions had to be made, the contracting process for the Monitor reveals important similarities between system acquisition challenges and practices then as well as now. From an accounting perspective, this study focuses on how key participants searched for, developed, and used available information to influence decision-makers as well as plan and control contracting activities. Some public policy issues associated with the Monitor acquisition process are as relevant today as they were during the Civil War. Accessibility to both the government's and the contractor's historical records, combined with less complex technological questions, permit consideration of these issues in a more richly documented and more easily understandable context than might be obtainable using a modern weapons system as the illustrative case.