The first classic program office was formed and organized in 1957, then called the Special Project Office (SPO), within the United States Department of the Navy. The SPO was established to manage the development of an underwater ballistic missile launch system. Indeed, the structure of the missile launch system program mirrors the program management structures utilized today—atoday: a series of interrelated projects (launcher-- launcher, missile, guidance, installation, navigation, operations, and test)test -- collectively and coherently managed as a program. Therefore, to answer the question from our title—thetitle -- the PMO is not a new idea. However, there is a fundamental difference between that PMO from 1957 and today's offices. The office from 1957, and the wave of offices that followed, had a common attribute of supporting one program only, and certainly those programs were large. The new wave of PMOs supports multiple programs. This is, of course, an issue of productivity, and resource and cost efficiency. Additionally, these multiple programs are smaller than the likes of the development of an underwater ballistic missile launch system.