STANREC 4755
STANREC 4755 NATO guidance on life cycle costs
National defence procurement authorities and programme cost engineers deciding which NATO guidance a life cycle cost estimate should follow
STANREC 4755 is a NATO recommendation, not a binding agreement, inviting nations to use ALCCP-01, Edition B, NATO's guidance on life cycle costs.
- Edition
- 2
- Published
- 2018-05-23
What it is
A recommendation, not an obligation
STANREC 4755 is a NATO Standardization Recommendation on life cycle costs. As with every STANREC, the distinction that matters most is in its name: unlike a STANAG, it does not commit a nation to ratify anything. The document's own Implementation clause is explicit that it "is a non-binding document employed on a voluntary basis and does not require commitment of the nations to implement the standards which are listed in it." Nothing in these five pages creates a duty for a supplier to sign up to directly.
What it recommends
The entire substantive content of STANREC 4755 is one line: "The following standard is recommended: ALCCP-01, Edition B." The stated aim is "to list recommended practices regarding: the life cycle costs," but the document does not itself describe those practices, define life cycle costs, or set out a methodology - it names the one document that does, and stops there. Anyone who needs the actual cost-estimation content has to read ALCCP-01 itself, not this covering recommendation.
Other related documents
The text separately names, without saying this recommendation depends on them, STANAG 4728 (System Life Cycle Management) alongside AAP-20 and AAP-48, and STANREC 4808 (Engineering in NATO Programmes) alongside AEP-67 and ALP-10. These are adjacent reading in the same family of life cycle and quality documents, not content this STANREC binds anyone to.
Edition 2, and what it replaced
This is Edition 2, promulgated 23 May 2018. The text states that it supersedes an earlier edition of STANREC 4755, without giving that edition's own number or date, so they are not repeated here.
Review, and who can raise a change
STANREC 4755 "is to be reviewed at least once every three years," with "the result of the review... recorded within the NSDD." Outside that cycle, "Nations and NATO bodies may propose changes, at any time, through a standardization proposal to the tasking authority (TA)," to be processed at the next review. The recommendation is supervised under the CNAD Life Cycle Management Group (AC/327), with Germany named as custodian.
How we help
STANREC 4755 is a pointer, not a specification: it names ALCCP-01 as the recommended guidance on life cycle costs and stops there. There is nothing in these five pages to implement in software, and the document does not itself describe what evidencing life cycle costing involves - that content lives in ALCCP-01.
What this document does leave an organisation to do is track whether a national programme or a contract actually calls up ALCCP-01, and, once it does, hold whatever cost-estimating procedures, records and reviews that requirement brings with it. ComplyTrain gives a place to hold that kind of procedure and evidence, and to keep a record of who reviewed it, the same way it does for any other documented requirement a contract introduces.
ComplyTrain does not perform life cycle cost estimation or analysis, and it does not tell a programme which of ALCCP-01, STANAG 4728, AAP-20, AAP-48, STANREC 4808, AEP-67 or ALP-10 it needs - that is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by this page. Our standards explorer shows what sits alongside STANREC 4755; if you're weighing up what a tender's cost-reporting clause is actually asking for, we're glad to talk it through.
Standards it references
- STANAG 4728Background
- AAP-20Background
- AAP-48Background
- STANREC 4808Background
- AEP-67Background
- ALP-10Background
Questions
Is STANREC 4755 mandatory?
No. A STANREC is a recommendation, not an agreement: NATO nations are invited to use the standard it names, without the ratification obligation a STANAG carries. Whether ALCCP-01 applies to a specific programme is a question for that programme's contract.
What is the difference between a STANREC and a STANAG?
A STANAG is an agreement nations ratify and commit to implement. A STANREC recommends a standard without that obligation - nations are invited to use it, and to propose changes to it through the tasking authority, but nothing requires them to adopt it.
What does STANREC 4755 actually cover?
Just one recommendation: that nations use ALCCP-01, Edition B, as their guidance on life cycle costs. The STANREC itself contains no costing methodology; it names the document that does.
Does STANREC 4755 replace an earlier edition?
Yes. This is Edition 2, promulgated 23 May 2018, and the text states it supersedes an earlier edition of the same STANREC, though that edition's own number and date are not given.