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Department of the Navy: Unauthorized Activity Codes Used to Requisition New and Excess DOD Property

GAO-01-206R Published: Jan 08, 2001. Publicly Released: Feb 07, 2001.
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Highlights

 

GAO examined Navy inventory management activities to determine whether any unauthorized activity codes had been used to requisition new and excess property. GAO found that as of June 2000, the Navy maintained 2,002 activity codes identified as unauthorized to requisition government property. However, during the last five years, 663 of these codes were used to requisition more than $2 billion in new and excess government property. In addition, there were no safeguards in the Defense Automatic Addressing System Center or the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service to prevent these activity codes from being used. This has created a condition in which government property is vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse.

 

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Navy to verify whether requisitioning authority for Navy activity codes is categorized accurately and review procedures to ensure that assignments are appropriate, made in accordance with standard operating procedures, and routinely inspected to ensure compliance.
Closed – Implemented
The Navy has reported that it has reviewed its activity codes to determine if they are categorized accurately. Those codes that could not be attached to an authorized activity were canceled and those that were attached to an authorized activity were properly registered. It has also modified its systems to help in controlling the use of unauthorized activity address codes in the future.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Navy to coordinate with the Defense Automatic Addressing System Center and the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service to incorporate safeguards in appropriate databases to ensure that unauthorized activity codes are not used to requisition government property.
Closed – Not Implemented
The issue of safeguards to ensure that non-requisitioning activity address codes are not used to requisition property was considered at a conference sponsored by the Defense Logistics Management Systems Office in March 2001. As result of that meeting, the Navy is modifying its system that controls the use of activity address codes. When complete, safeguards should be in place to prevent the use of unauthorized activity codes. These modifications should be complete by the end of 2005.

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Topics

Federal agency accounting systemsInternal controlsInventory control systemsLogisticsNaval procurementMilitary forcesInternational relationsFraud, Waste and AbuseInventory controlSurplus property