Sustainment planning involves IPS elements such as product support management, supply support, PHS&T, and maintenance planning & management.

• A. Sustainment planning involves product support management, supply support, PHS&T, and maintenance planning & management
• B. Sustainment planning is unrelated to IPS
• C. Sustainment planning is solely the responsibility of prime contractors
• D. Sustainment planning only concerns IT systems

Answer: (A)

Sustainment planning ties together the Integrated Product Support elements to ensure a system remains ready, available, and affordable throughout its life cycle. It relies on product support management to set governance, performance targets, and lifecycle oversight; on supply support to ensure parts and materials are available where and when needed; on packaging, handling, storage, and transportation (PHS&T) to move and protect equipment effectively; and on maintenance planning and management to define maintenance concepts, tasks, and schedules that keep the system reliable. Because sustainment planning directly integrates these IPS components, it best represents how to support a system over time. The idea that sustainment planning is unrelated to IPS, solely the contractor's responsibility, or limited to IT systems does not fit, since sustainment requires coordinating these IPS elements across the entire life cycle.