WAIVER

1) The intentional relinquishment of a right, Claim, or requirement. 2) A written Authorization to accept a Configuration Item, or other designated items, which, during Production or after production, having been submitted for inspection, are found to depart from specified requirements, but nevertheless are considered suitable as is, or after rework by an approved method. 3) A decision to not require certain criteria to be met, for certain reasons, such as national security.

WARRANT

1) An Authorization or certification. 2) An official document issued by the Secretary of the Treasury, and countersigned by the Comptroller General of the United States, by which monies are authorized to be withdrawn from the Treasury. Warrants are issued after Appropriations and similar congressional authority have been enacted. 3) An official document designating an individual as a Contracting Officer (CO). The warrant will state the limits of the CO's authority.

WARRANTY

1) A legally binding Guarantee. 2) A promise or affirmation regarding the nature, usefulness, or condition of the supplies or performance of services furnished under contract. 3) A contractual clause which states the period of time, and under what circumstances, a contractor or seller guarantees that a product is Defect free. The warranty also describes what the contractor will do about items furnished to the customer, when they are found to be Defective. 4) For DoD Procurements, warranties center on workmanship, and defects in material and performance.

WARRANTY CLAIM

A customer Claim, or request, for repair, replacement, or correction of an item, as provided by the Warranty.

WAYBILL

A document prepared by a transportation company at the point of origin of a shipment, showing the point of origin, destination, route, consignor, consignee, description of the shipment, and transportation charges. This form is forwarded with the shipment, or by mail, to the agent at the transfer point or shipment destination.

WEAPON SYSTEM

1) Items that can be used directly by the armed forces to carry out combat missions, and that Cost more than $100,000, or for which the eventual total Procurement cost is more than $10,000,000. The term does not include Commercial Items sold in substantial quantities to the general public. 2) A weapon and those Components required for its operation. The system is a Composite of equipments, skills, and techniques that form an instrument of combat. The complete weapon system includes all related Facilities, equipment, materiel, services, and personnel required solely for the operation of the system, so that the instrument of combat becomes a selfsufficient unit of striking power in its intended operational environment.

WEAR(OUT)

1) To impair or consume by long or hard use, friction, or exposure to the Elements. 2) The process of Attrition which results in an increase of the Failure Rate, with increasing age (or Cycles, time, miles, events, etc.), as applicable for the item.

WEIGHTED AVERAGE

An arithmetic Mean of a numerical series, adjusted to give appropriate significance to each item in relation to its importance. (For example, a weighted Average cost per unit of a number of purchases of a given item is determined as follows: the sum of the Cost of all purchases (equals cost times quantity of each purchase) divided by the total quantity purchased.) An unweighted average, or simple arithmetic mean, would be determined by the sum of Unit Costs for each purchase (regardless of quantity) divided by the number of purchases.

WEIGHTED GUIDELINES

A Government technique for developing Fee and Profit objectives (and supporting Negotiations), within percentage ranges established by regulation. The weighted guidelines consist of an assigned profit range for each Element of Cost, with higher profits for more skilled labor, etc., plus special recognition for risk assumption, past performance, and other selected factors.

WHOLESALE PRICE INDEX

A Composite index of wholesale prices for a representative group of commodities.

WICKETS

1) The steps or checkpoints through which a Process must pass. 2) A procedure or process of reviews, decisions, and sign-offs through which a program or effort must proceed.

WILL COST

A concept of contract Pricing that requires the submission and Evaluation of what an offeror Estimates it will Cost to do the job in a specified future period. Backup Data reflect projections from past and current contracts for the same or similar work, to the extent Actuals are available. Such pricing Data is evaluated for the application to a projection of future costs, as well as for whether or not these data may indicate the likelihood of perpetuating any past inefficiencies.

WIN-WIN (SITUATION)

1) A philosophy whereby all parties in a scenario come away gaining some or most of what they wanted (i.e., everyone "wins" something, even though it may not be 100% of each individual's goal). 2) The ideal situation or outcome.

WITHDRAWAL

1) Removal. 2) The action taken by a service to remove its resources of personnel and funds before a program is completed.

WOODEN ROUND

1) A round (shell, or missile, etc.) requiring no maintenance or preparation time, prior to loading for firing. 2) A concept which pictures a guided missile as being completely reliable, and having an infinite shelf life, while at the same time requiring no special handling, storage, and/or surveillance.

WORK AID

A device such as a pattern, template, or sketch used to enhance a worker's ability to learn and perform a task Efficiently.

WORK AROUND

A procedure developed for taking into account shortcomings or other problems in a program, and devising workable solutions to get around the problems.

WORK AUTHORIZATION

A company instrument, memo, or document which authorizes work to be accomplished on a contract, project, or program.

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS)

1) A management technique for subdividing a total job into its Component elements, which then can be displayed in a manner to show the relationship of these Elements to each other and to the whole. 2) A product-oriented family tree, composed of hardware, software, services, and other work tasks, which results from project Engineering effort during the Development and production of a Defense Materiel Item, and which completely defines the project or program. A WBS displays and defines the product(s) to be developed or produced, and relates the elements of work to be accomplished to each other and to the end product. See Work Breakdown Structure Elements.

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS) ELEMENTS

The individual elements of the Work Breakdown Structure, representing the required hardware, software, services, and/or Data.

WORK CYCLE

A pattern of motions and/or processes that is repeated with negligible variation each time an operation is performed. See Cycle.

WORK IN PROCESS

Materials upon which some manufacturing operations have been performed and on which additional operations are required, prior to completion as finished goods.

WORK LOAD

1) The amount of work, in terms of predetermined work units, which organizations or individuals perform or are responsible for performing. 2) A quantitative expression of human tasks, usually identified as Standard Hours of work, or a corresponding number of units.

WORK MEASUREMENT (WM)

A technique employed independently, or in conjunction with cost Accounting, for the collection of Data on labor hours and production by work units, so that the relationship between work performed and labor hours expended can be calculated. The objective of the WM system is to determine how long it should take an employee to perform assigned work, and to identify opportunities for improvement.

WORK ORDER

The internal company Authorization to incur Costs for the Design, Development, manufacture, purchase, Assembly, test, Checkout, and/or delivery of products. Work orders are usually broader in scope than Job Orders, and may provide a specific or blanket authorization to perform certain work.

WORK PACKAGE(S)

Detailed shortspan jobs, or material items, identified by the contractor for accomplishing work required to complete the contract. A work package has the following Characteristics: (a) it represents units of work at levels where the work is performed; (b) it is clearly distinguishable from all other work packages; (c) it is assignable to a single organizational Element; (d) it has scheduled start and completion dates and, as applicable, interim milestones, all of which are representative of physical accomplishment; (e) it has a Budget or assigned value expressed in terms of dollars, manhours, or other measurable units; (f) its duration is limited to a relatively short span of time, or it is subdivided by Discrete value milestones to facilitate the objective measurement of work performed; and (g) it is integrated with detailed Engineering, manufacturing, or other schedules.

WORK PACKAGE BUDGET(S)

Resources (expressed in dollars, hours, standards, or other definitive units), which are formally assigned by the contractor to accomplish a specific Work Package.

WORK PERFORMED

Completed Work Packages, and the completed portions of work packages begun, but not yet completed.

WORK REQUEST

A negotiated method used to obtain on site Authorization for additional work requirements at test sites, military installations, or bases, etc. Work requests are not used to authorize Configuration changes; however, they may authorize the implementation of an approved Engineering Change, Class I, which results in a revision to a configuration.

WORK SAMPLING STUDY

A Statistical Sampling technique employed to determine the proportion of delays, or other classifications of activity present in the total Work Cycle.

WORK SIMPLIFICATION

The application of a management philosophy and practice, which seeks to conduct all activities, and perform all functions of an enterprise, in the least expensive manner consistent with any given purpose.

WORK STANDARD

The number of manhours selected to accomplish each Work Unit, for the purpose of appraising an operation. See Standard.

WORK UNIT

A physical unit used to measure the amount of work or output.

WORKING CAPITAL

The excess of current Assets over current Liabilities.

WORST CASE SCENARIO

In planning, to examine the worst possible environment or outcome, and evaluate results around which to formulate the next step or action.

WORTH

1) That quality of something that renders it valuable or useful. 2) The material, or monetary, value of something. 3) The measure of value received, for the resources expended.

WRAPAROUND RATE

A total rate per hour that covers Direct Labor, overhead, fringe Benefits, and other Costs. The rate may also include factored labor costs, support services, travel, and material costs. No universal definition exists to cover the specific items included in wraparound rates, so each contractor's unique rate will be made up of different variables, and an Analysis of the rates of different contractors requires detailed investigation of rate composition.

WRITEOFF

1) An Accounting entry to create a charge against Earnings, for Elements of Cost not recognized as allowable for contract pricing. 2) Charges against earnings for losses on Commercial Sales, the Development of Commercial Items, and loan defaults, etc.