DMSMS Knowledge Sharing Portal

The DMSMS Knowledge Sharing Portal (DKSP) is a Defense Acquisition University (DAU)-hosted resource, sponsored by the Defense Standardization Program Office (DSPO), that serves as a non-biased one-stop source of information, tools, and best practices for Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS) — better known as parts and material obsolescence management. It is aimed at the DoD community, both organic (government) and industrial (contractor), who need to monitor, track, and resolve obsolescence issues affecting fielded systems and equipment.

What it is

DKSP is a DAU Tools-catalog resource (listed under DAU's Tools index) that centralizes DMSMS-related guidance, references, and educational material. It supports the DoD's broader DMSMS program, which addresses the loss of manufacturers or suppliers of parts and raw materials needed to sustain a system throughout its life cycle. The Defense Standardization Program Office, which sponsors the portal, also serves as executive sponsor for the Government-Industry Data Exchange Program (GIDEP), the mechanism DoD and industry use to share data on obsolescence and part-quality issues.

Who operates it

Defense Acquisition University hosts the portal; the Defense Standardization Program Office sponsors it as part of DoD's DMSMS program. DAU itself has been rebranded as the Warfighting Acquisition University (WarU) as part of the Department of War's restructuring, and its public web presence now resolves through waru.edu, though dau.edu addresses continue to redirect there.

Access

DKSP is reached from DAU's public Tools index and does not require a CAC to view — DAU's Communities of Practice content (which historically included the DMSMS portal) is described by DAU as available to any dau.edu/waru.edu visitor. A Common Access Card (PIV) login is used elsewhere on the DAU/WarU site for personalized features such as saved credentials or training transcripts, not for reading DMSMS reference material.

How logisticians use it

Life-cycle logistics, product-support, and systems-engineering personnel use DKSP to find DMSMS best practices, guidance documents, and training aimed at proactively identifying and mitigating parts obsolescence before it affects readiness, cost, or schedule — for example, when a component's manufacturer discontinues production and a program office must qualify a substitute or last-time-buy strategy.

History & lineage

The portal's original public entry point was hosted at acc.dau.mil (DAU's older "Acquisition Community Connection" platform); that address no longer resolves and the tool is now reached through DAU's Tools index. DAU has also announced it is retiring its Communities of Practice (COP) structure — the umbrella under which DKSP previously lived — in favor of a new "Acquisition Knowledge Matrix," a taxonomy-driven content hub.

Related systems

DKSP relates closely to GIDEP (the industry/government data-exchange program DSPO sponsors for obsolescence and part-quality alerts) and to DAU's broader Life Cycle Logistics functional-area resources on product support and sustainment planning.