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The Contractor [CDC] has delivered the hardware and software in
accordance with the contract specifications…. however, there are
serious deficiencies in these Government drafted specifications which
cause them to fall short of satisfying the ALS objectives [30].
3 Conclusion
The materiality of commands, both the Air Force officers' commands to primary
computer contractor Control Data regarding strict adherence to the original design
specifications and system limitations on integrating software commands and function-
ality, were fundamental to ALS' failings. From early meetings with potential bidders,
throughout the contracting phase, and into the project, CDC personnel were straight-
forward about their perception of the limitations and risks involved with specifica-
tions established by the AFLC. Given the early frustrations of the CDC team, after
being rebuked when they questioned the Air Force computer/software specifications
at the pre-proposal stage, CDC managers were particularly careful to document de-
velopments and keep AFLC personnel informed about activities and problems with
the project. Additionally, both prior to and in the early phases of ALS, RAND advi-
sors had cautioned the Air Force. Ultimately, the combination of the project's com-
plexity and the challenges it posed to the existing state-of-the-art in computing and
software, coupled with the well intentioned, but poorly conceived original specifica-
tions stubbornly adhered to by the AFLC leaders, resulted in severe shortcomings of
the ALS project. Attempts for mid project redefinitions and recovery were made ear-
nestly by the Air Force and CDC, but fell short, and led to the project's demise. The
AFLC was left with far more advanced computing infrastructure, but the ALS project
was not a cost-effective means to achieve this modernization of computing equip-
ment, and it would be years before the Air Force had a fully operable system roughly
comparable to the lofty ambitions initially designated for ALS.
More broadly, the ALS story is particularly meaningful to the history and histo-
riography of computing. It was an unprecedented IT effort in logistics and it was a
failed project. Logistics is one of the fundamentally important applications of IT but
has received very little attention in the existing historical literature. In James Cor-
tada's trilogy of topics surveying the history of computer applications to various
industries,
The Digital Hand
, logistics and electronic data interchange (EDI) be-
tween organizations make brief appearances (there is significant discussion of logis-
tics and EDI in roughly a dozen pages of this more than 1400- page study)
[31][32][5]. In most histories of computing, logistics is not even mentioned. Never-
theless, computers and computer networking were absolutely fundamental to realiz-
ing possibilities for efficiencies in logistics, most notably with realizing just-in-time
(JIT) inventory management. While contemporary debates exist as to whether IT
(including the core area of IT applications to logistics) can still be a source of com-
petitive advantage, it unquestionably was for some organizations (such as Dell and
Walmart) in earlier decades [33]. In the 1960s the AFLC was not only the largest
purchaser in the US government, but of all organizations worldwide.
18
Given this, it is
18
Furthermore, the AFLC managed Air Force personnel as inventory.
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