MIL-STD-881 Revision D:2018

This Standard presents direction for effectively preparing, understanding, and presenting a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

This Standard presents direction for effectively preparing, understanding, and presenting a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). It provides the framework for Department of Defense (DoD) Program Managers to define their program’s WBS and to defense contractors in their application
and extension of the Program and contract WBS to report additional details associated with their agreements with Government Program Managers. Section 1 defines and describes the WBS. Section 2 provides instructions on how the WBS is applied, as well as how to develop a Program WBS in the pre-award timeframe (i.e., before a contract or Government performed effort has begun). Section 3 provides direction for developing and implementing a Contract WBS and Section 4 examines the role of the WBS in the post-award timeframe. Throughout this standard, the word “contract” and “defense contractor” is used to refer to both literal contracts with private industry, and to agreements between a Program Office, the awardee, and other Government organizations (e.g., test sites, depots, labs, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers [FFRDC]). This Standard also provides WBS definitions for specific defense materiel commodity systems in Appendices A through J. Appendix K addresses WBS elements that are common to all commodities (Appendices A-J) prior to Operations and Support activities, as well as those which use unique elements (e.g., Space Systems, Information Systems/Defense Business Systems, Launch Systems, and Strategic Missile Systems).