This is the accessible text file for GAO report number GAO-03-340 
entitled 'Environmental Protection: Information on the Purchase, Use, 
and Disposal of Engine Lubricating Oil' which was released on January 
02, 2003.



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Report to the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member, Committee on 

Environment and Public Works, U.S. Senate:



United States General Accounting Office:



GAO:



January 2003:



Environmental Protection:



Information on the Purchase, Use, and Disposal of Engine Lubricating 

Oil:



GAO-03-340:



GAO Highlights:



Highlights of GAO-03-340, a report to the Chairman and Ranking Minority 

Member, Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S. Senate 



Why GAO Did This Study:



Concerned with the time, money, and resources that the federal 

government 

expends servicing its vehicle and engine fleet, the Committee 

asked GAO to 

compile information on the government’s use of engine lubricating 

oil.



GAO was asked to determine:



-How much engine lubricating oil the federal government bought in 

fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001;

-What costs are incurred for the disposal and recycling of engine 

lubricating oil;

-What costs are incurred for changing motor oil in military and 

civilian fleets;

-What logistical implications exist for the transport of engine 

lubricating oil during recent military operations; and

-What options exist for reducing purchase, maintenance, and 

disposal 

costs for engine lubricating oil.



To conduct its study, GAO focused on three agencies that 

account 

for 79 percent of all non-tactical vehicles owned or leased 

by the 

U.S. government: the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), the Department 

of 

Defense (DOD), and the General Services Administration (GSA). 

It 

compiled information only on engine lubricating oil used in 

ground 

vehicles and equipment and not in aircraft and ships.



What GAO Found:



There is no aggregate data on the purchase, use, and disposal of 

engine lubricating oil for the federal government as a whole. 

However, the three agencies included in GAO’s review—USPS, DOD, 

and GSA—collectively bought nearly 41 million quarts of engine 

lubricating oil, valued at about $37.3 million, from fiscal 

years 1999 to 2001.



Only limited data is available on the costs for disposing and 

recycling engine lubricating oil used in the land-based vehicle 

fleets of these three agencies. The Army and Navy maintain 

some 

disposal data, but the Air Force, GSA, and USPS do not have 

any 

aggregate information available. In addition, information is 

not 

readily available on the number of labor hours and costs 

incurred 

in changing oil in the agencies’ vehicles. Finally, it is 

difficult, 

if not impossible, to estimate the costs of transporting 

engine 

lubricating oil during military operations because the 

transportation 

costs depend largely on the specific scenario.



Several methods were identified for reducing the cost and 

use of 

engine lubricating oil:



-Bypass filters, used in conjunction with traditional oil 

filters, 

can substantially reduce the number of oil changes required 

by 

increasing the intervals between oil changes by two to ten 

times; 

-Synthetic lubricating oils have the potential to increase 

the 

length of time between oil changes, reduce engine wear, 

and enhance 

the engine’s operation over a greater range of temperatures;

-Oil analysis programs can also reduce engine oil use. 

These programs 

determine when it is time to change the oil by testing its 

condition 

in the engine rather than by following a regularly 

scheduled oil change 

based on mileage or usage. 



[See PDF for image]



[End of table]



www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-340.



To view the full report, including the scope and 

methodology, click 

on the link above. For more information, contact 

William M. Solis at (202) 

512-8365 or solisw@gao.gov.



[End of section]



Contents:



Letter:



Appendix I: Briefing to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public 
Works:



Abbreviations:



AOAP: Army Oil Analysis Program:



DLA: Defense Logistics Agency:



DOD: Department of Defense:



GSA: General Services Administration:



NCDOT: North Carolina Department of Transportation:



USPS: U.S. Postal Service:



United States General Accounting Office:



Washington, DC 20548:



January 2, 2003:



The Honorable James M. Jeffords

Chairman

The Honorable Bob Smith

Ranking Minority Member

Committee on Environment and Public Works

United States Senate:



As you requested, we are providing you with information on the 

purchase, use, and disposal of engine lubricating oil by the federal 

government. You were concerned about the money, time, and resources 

that the federal government spends servicing its vehicle and engine 

fleet. As agreed with your offices, our work focused, to the extent 

that data was available, on the following five areas:



* How much engine lubricating oil did the federal government purchase 

and what did those purchases cost for each of the most recent 3 fiscal 

years for which such information was available?



* How much in direct costs did the federal government pay for the 

disposal and/or recycling of engine lubricating oil in each of the most 

recent 3 fiscal years for which such information was available?



* How much in direct contracted costs or federal employee labor costs 

were incurred by the federal government for the changing of motor oil 

in federal civilian and military fleet engines in each of the most 

recent 3 fiscal years for which such information was available?



* What were the costs and other logistical implications for the 

transport of engine lubricating oil by the military in recent military 

operations such as the Persian Gulf War and peacekeeping efforts in the 

Balkans?



* What are options for reducing the costs of the purchase, maintenance, 

and disposal of engine lubricating oil, including the use of 

technologies that would eliminate the need for frequent oil changes?



On November 21, 2002, we provided your offices with a briefing on the 

results of this review, including our scope and methodology. This 

report transmits the briefing, which is reprinted as an appendix.



Summary:



There is no aggregate data on the purchase, use, and disposal of engine 

lubricating oil for the federal government. The three agencies included 

in our review--the Department of Defense (DOD), the General Services 

Administration (GSA), and the U.S. Postal Service--collectively 

purchased about 41 million quarts of engine lubricating oil, valued at 

about $37.3 million, from 1999 to 2001. DOD’s data reflects purchases 

that the military services made from the Defense Logistics Agency for 

both combat and commercial-type vehicles, but it does not include oil 

that the services bought from commercial vendors on the local 

economy.[Footnote 1] DOD officials could not estimate the magnitude of 

these purchases from the commercial market. Because GSA does not 

perform oil changes itself, its data is based on estimates of the 

number of oil changes that commercial vendors or other federal 

maintenance facilities performed on the fleet. As such, the cost of the 

oil used in these changes cannot be identified separately from other 

maintenance costs. GSA’s data excludes oil changes performed on GSA 

vehicles by other federal agencies’ maintenance facilities. The Postal 

Service’s data may not include some oil purchases, such as oil bought 

using petty cash, and oil changes performed by commercial vendors. 

However, Postal Service officials estimate that the amount of purchases 

not captured in this data is minimal (1 percent or less).



Our work indicated that only limited data on engine oil disposal and 

recycling costs is available from the agencies we reviewed. The Air 

Force and Postal Service do not have any aggregate disposal data 

available for engine lubricating oil. GSA also does not have disposal 

data because it relies on commercial vendors or other federal 

maintenance facilities to change and dispose of oil. However, the Army 

and Navy do maintain some information on engine oil disposal. For 

example, the Chief of Naval Operations and the Commandant of the Marine 

Corps report annually on disposal and recycling costs/quantities for 

waste oil for Navy and Marine Corps installations. On average, the Navy 

and Marine Corps annually disposed of 14,741 tons and 2,892 tons of 

waste oil, respectively during fiscal years 1999 to 2001. The Army has 

disposal data for only a few selected installations from its automated 

hazardous materials tracking system, which has been partially fielded 

only as a pilot project thus far.



Our review indicated that records on actual labor hours and costs 

incurred for oil changes are not readily available at the three 

agencies we reviewed. However, we noted that some data exists that 

would help them estimate labor hours and other costs for oil changes 

for selected vehicles. For example, Army officials told us that a draft 

Army Oil Analysis Program study includes estimated data on labor and 

other costs for oil changes on selected tactical vehicles. Also, GSA 

and Postal Service officials said they could estimate the number of oil 

changes for their vehicle fleets based on maintenance schedules. They 

could then calculate the costs for an oil change after making certain 

assumptions, such as the amount and cost of labor involved in making 

each oil change and that oil changes were actually performed as 

scheduled.



DOD officials told us that transportation costs for engine lubricating 

oil during military operations are scenario dependant and difficult, if 

not impossible, to determine. Typically, the military services store 

and transport oil to sustain them for the short term during contingency 

operations, usually for the first 30 days. They usually transport oil 

with other supplies and equipment or preposition oil supplies on ships 

or land overseas.



The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) generally provides for follow-on 

supplies to the theater, which are requisitioned by the services as 

needed. DLA may transport oil to the theater from the United States or 

purchase it locally at overseas locations where needed, depending on 

the specific operation to be supported. In the case of Desert Storm, 

for example, DLA officials stated that some engine lubricating oil was 

provided by Saudi Arabia at no cost to the U.S. government, while some 

oil was purchased commercially by DLA from the United Kingdom.



Our limited literature search and discussions with agency officials to 

date have identified several options for reducing the costs of engine 

lubricating oil use. They are:



* Bypass filters, which are used in conjunction with traditional oil 

filters to remove smaller contaminant particles. These filters are 

currently in use in private industry, at the North Carolina Department 

of Transportation (NCDOT), and at some U.S. military locations. Studies 

have shown that bypass filters substantially reduce the numbers of oil 

changes required by increasing the intervals between oil changes from 

as much as 2 to 10 times. For example, in using these filters, NCDOT 

dump truck intervals increased from 5,000 miles to 10,000 miles and 

Scott Paper Company woodlands equipment intervals increased from 

100 hours to 1,000 hours.



* Synthetic lubricating oils, which can potentially increase the length 

of time between oil changes, reduce engine wear, and enhance the 

engine’s operation over a greater range of temperatures. The Army is 

currently funding research in this area.



* Oil analysis programs, which determine when oil changes are due based 

on the condition of oil samples drawn from vehicles regularly and 

tested in labs. Oil changes are made only when they are recommended by 

the lab, rather than performed on a regularly scheduled basis. 

Preliminary analyses performed by the Army as part of the Army Oil 

Analysis Program (AOAP) have indicated that the Army has saved about 

$81 million in oil change costs during the past 3 fiscal years, 

excluding disposal costs or AOAP lab operating costs. We have not 

validated the study’s findings or its methodology.



Scope and Methodology:



To conduct our review, we obtained information on engine oil purchases, 

disposal, and use from three agencies that account for 79 percent of 

the total non-tactical vehicles owned or leased by the U.S. government-

-the U.S. Postal Service (35 percent); GSA (29 percent); and DOD 

(15 percent). We held discussions or obtained data from GSA’s Federal 

Supply Service; U.S. Postal Service headquarters; the White House Task 

Force on Recycling; DOD’s Offices of the Deputy Under Secretary of 

Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness and the Deputy Under 

Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment; DLA’s Defense 

Supply Center Richmond and the Defense Reutilization and Marketing 

Service; and several other subordinate agencies and offices in each of 

the military services. We did not validate any of the data provided by 

the selected agencies or assess the merits of the options identified 

for reducing the costs of engine lubricating oil use. We performed our 

work from August through December 2002 in accordance with generally 

accepted government auditing standards.



Agency Comments:



In providing oral comments on the briefing slides pertaining to their 

agencies, GSA and Postal Service representatives stated that they 

agreed with the information presented. Additional comments on the 

material were incorporated as appropriate. DOD provided technical 

comments on a draft of this report, which we have also incorporated as 

appropriate.



We are sending copies of this report to the Chairmen and Ranking 

Minority Members of other Senate and House committees and subcommittees 

that have jurisdiction and oversight responsibilities for DOD, GSA, and 

the Postal Service. We are also sending copies to the Secretary of 

Defense, the Administrator of GSA, the Postmaster General, and the 

Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Copies will also be 

available at no charge on our Web site at www.gao.gov.



If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please 

contact me at (202) 512-8365 or e-mail me at solisw@gao.gov. Key 

contributors to this report were Ken Knouse, Cary Russell, Betsy Mead, 

and Andria Key.



William M. Solis

Director, Defense Capabilities 

  and Management:



[End of section]



Appendix I: Briefing to the Senate Committee 

on Environment and Public Works:



[See PDF for image]



[End of briefing]



FOOTNOTES



[1] DOD’s data includes engine lubricating oil used in internal 

combustion engines for ground vehicles and equipment, but does not 

include lubricating oil for aircraft or ship engines.



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