Site problems Air Force Budget Air Force Budget Cycle The budget baseline is established through the Program Objective Memorandum (POM) process.  The POM process begins at each of the Major Commands (MAJCOMs), including Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC). They consider factors such as the Defense Planning Guidance and the Combatant Commanders' Integrated Priority Lists (IPLs) and put together proposed budgets for each of their Program Elements (PEs). Each PE contains a description of capabilities the dollars will buy and the "color" and amount of funds that will be required-they do this for each of the 6 years in the Future Year Defense Plan (FYDP). AFMC has an internal board structure that considers the draft budgets put together by the Program Element Monitors (PEMs). This board "racks and stacks" the Command's budget priorities and forwards them to AFMC/CC for approval. For acquisition programs, the System Program Office (SPO) is the principal source of budget numbers. It is critical that the PEM and the System Program Director (SPD) have a totally coordinated POM input. If not, there will not be a coherent story to defend the program and the proposed defense will not stand up to scrutiny, resulting in funding losses. Once the AFMC/CC approves the draft POM inputs, they are sent to the Air Staff for consideration. The Air Staff also has a very structured organization (including the Air Force Board and Air Force Council) to evaluate POM inputs from the MAJCOMS and reconcile them into a consolidated Air Force input. From here, the Air Force input goes to the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) where it is "mashed" against inputs of the other services (again using a very structured management process) and is input to the President’s Budget.