pbc is the name used in australia, new zealand and canada to describe the practice of attaching contract payment to a set of performance metrics. it is commonly known as performance-based logistics in the us and contracting for availability or contractor logistics support in the uk. although it was developed in the us for defence applications, and is most actively applied there, pbc strategies are growing in popularity around the world and in industry sectors other than defence. in particular, pbc frameworks are becoming popular in shipping, transport, health services and the energy sector.