The key to the success of an Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) program is thorough, detailed initial planning followed by implementation of all aspects of the plan. All too often, plans are written in order to fulfill a contractual requirement rather than to create a road map for success. Writing plans just for the sake of meeting a requirement is counterproductive and wasteful. It is incumbent on both the government and the contractor to produce plans that will be used.

Previous chapters have identified the need to generate plans that set the course for individual ILS disciplines in accomplishing the requirements of a project. In each case, the plans address the specific actions that must occur in order for the discipline to meet contract requirements.

There are two plans that have not been discussed that are the overall guides for the ILS program. These plans are an Integrated Logistics Support Plan (ILSP) and an Integrated Support Plan (ISP). As a point of clarification, the titles ILSP and ISP have been used interchangeably by the different services of the government, to the confusion of both the government and contractors. In some cases, a contractor may be required to prepare a plan called an ILSP that actually conforms to the description of the ISP below.