Summary
The Department of Defense (DOD) established a goal to achieve total asset visibility over 30 years ago. This initiative aims to provide timely, accurate information on the location, movement, status, and identity of equipment and supplies. To date, the effort has been unsuccessful. GAO was requested to determine (1) the implementation status of the Air Force's business system initiatives to achieve total asset visibility, and whether the Air Force has implemented related best practices, and (2) whether the Air Force's business transformation efforts to achieve total asset visibility are aligned within the Air Force and with DOD's broader business transformation priorities. GAO interviewed Air Force officials and reviewed Air Force documentation to obtain an understanding of the Air Force's system initiatives and strategy for achieving total asset visibility and to identify areas for improvement.
The Air Force has identified the Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS) and the Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System (DEAMS) as key technology enablers of the Air Force's efforts to transform its logistics and financial management operations and achieve total asset visibility--a key DOD priority. ECSS is expected to provide a single, integrated logistics system, including transportation, supply, maintenance and repair, and other key business functions directly related to logistics such as engineering and acquisition. Additionally, ECSS will perform financial management and accounting for the Air Force working capital fund operations. ECSS is expected to be fully operational in fiscal year 2013, and replace about 250 legacy logistics and procurement systems. DEAMS is expected to provide the entire spectrum of core financial management capabilities, including collections, commitments/obligations, cost accounting, general ledger, funds control, receipts and acceptance, accounts payable and disbursement, billing, and financial reporting for the Air Force general fund operations. DEAMS is expected to replace seven legacy systems and be fully operational in fiscal year 2014. GAO identified several areas in which the Air Force had not fully implemented best practices related to risk management and system testing. These findings increase the risk that these business system initiatives will not meet their stated functionality, cost, and milestone goals, thereby limiting the Air Force's efforts to achieve total asset visibility and other DOD business transformation priorities. Further, key Air Force business transformation strategic plans and documents were not aligned within the Air Force nor with DOD's broader business transformation priorities. While each individual Air Force plan was intended to support the Air Force's business transformation efforts, the plans did not reflect a coordinated effort toward achieving a stated Air Force or DOD goal. For example, neither the Air Force's Military Equipment Accountability Improvement Plan for supporting DOD's military equipment valuation effort, nor the Air Force Logistics Enterprise Architecture Concept of Operations, its key strategic transformation plan for logistics, identified a shared relationship, including metrics, in supporting Air Force and DOD logistics and financial management transformation goals. As a result, neither the Air Force nor DOD will have the performance data needed to oversee efforts intended to improve the Air Force's ability to locate, manage, and account for assets throughout their life cycle.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
Asif A. Khan
Government Accountability Office: Financial Management and Assurance
(202) 512-9816
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: To improve the department's efforts to achieve total asset visibility and further enhance its efforts to improve control and accountability over business system investments and achieve its business transformation priorities, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Air Force to direct Air Force program management officials for ECSS and DEAMS to ensure that risk management activities at all levels of the program are identified and communicated to program management to facilitate oversight and monitoring. Key risks described at the appropriate level of detail should include and not be limited to risks associated with interfaces, data conversion, change management, and contractor oversight.
Agency Affected: Department of Defense
Status: Open
Comments: The Department of Defense (DOD) concurred with our recommendation. While both the Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS) and Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System (DEAMS) program offices have already implemented risk management processes that include identifying and communicating program risks to program management, DOD states that they are currently taking steps to further strengthen their existing processes. For example, the ECSS program office added GAO-recommended risks to its inventory, and the DEAMS program office intends to centralize two subordinate risk management programs (Increments 1 and 2) into a single program-level risk management program that will be managed by a Government employee accountable to the DEAMS Deputy Program Manager. We plan to follow-up on the status of this recommendation as part of a related engagement examining DOD's Enterprise Resource Planning systems.
Recommendation: To improve the department's efforts to achieve total asset visibility and further enhance its efforts to improve control and accountability over business system investments and achieve its business transformation priorities, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Air Force to direct the Air Force program management offices to test ECSS and DEAMS on relevant computer desktop configurations prior to deployment at a given location.
Agency Affected: Department of Defense
Status: Open
Comments: The Department of Defense (DOD) concurred with our recommendation. DOD officials stated that the DEAMS program office tested the program on all user desktop configurations. Additionally, informal unit desktop testing was conducted prior to each unit's initial deployment. As a result of the informal testing, the standard desktop configuration (SDC)-DEAMS conflict was discovered one week prior to the Air National Guard Wave-2 deployment of DEAMS and action was taken to mitigate the issue and reduce the likelihood of its future occurrence. The Department views this issue as a "lesson learned" for future Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation. We plan to follow-up on actions taken to address this recommendation as part of our related engagement examining DOD's Enterprise Resource Planning systems.
Recommendation: To improve the department's efforts to achieve total asset visibility and further enhance its efforts to improve control and accountability over business system investments and achieve its business transformation priorities, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Air Force to direct Air Force organizations responsible for the business transformation plans discussed in this report to align their respective plans, including efforts aimed at achieving total asset visibility, with priorities included in DOD's Enterprise Transition Plan. Further, these plans should include metrics to measure, monitor, and report progress in accomplishing the business priorities identified in DOD's Enterprise Transition Plan.
Agency Affected: Department of Defense
Status: Open
Comments: The Department of Defense (DOD) concurred with our recommendation. DOD officials stated that the Air Force is (1) currently updating its Financial Improvement Plan (FIP) to ensure alignment with the new DOD Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness (FIAR) Plan, and (2) taking steps to ensure that the FIP is aligned to the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force/Financial Management (SAF/FM) Strategic Plan and DOD's Enterprise Transition Plan. We plan to followup on actions taken to address this recommendation as part of our related engagement examining DOD's Financial Management Plan Integration.
