Internal Controls: Air Force Can Improve Controls Over Contractor Access to DOD Supply System
NSIAD-88-99
Published: Mar 18, 1988. Publicly Released: Apr 25, 1988.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the Air Force's policies, procedures, and practices for providing and controlling government-furnished materiel (GFM) to Department of Defense (DOD) contractors, focusing on the Air Force's: (1) compliance with requirements to justify and document decisions to provide GFM; (2) management controls for validating and approving contractors' GFM requests; and (3) oversight of contractor maintenance of GFM.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Air Force | The Secretary of the Air Force should direct all Air Force commands and activities to enforce compliance with existing FAR and DOD and Air Force policies regarding GFM which, among other things, require that decisions to allow contractors to obtain GFM be justified in advance, in writing, and be adequately documented to demonstrate that they are in the government's best interest from a cost-effectiveness or other critical standpoint. |
Closed – Implemented
Management improvement of GFP, including GFM, is a major ongoing initiative within DOD. The DOD Inspector General is tracking progress made on each of the initiatives.
|
| Department of the Air Force | The Secretary of the Air Force should direct that MCA or their equivalents receive and validate all wholesale-level contractor requisitions before they are sent to the source of supply to be filled. |
Closed – Implemented
Edits have been devised to ensure that contractors receive only items they are authorized. Refinements have been made to the system to edit requisitions by stock number and quantity authorized.
|
| Department of the Air Force | The Secretary of the Air Force should direct that AFLC improve the D049 database to generate stock numbers and quantities required for the D034A Special Support Stock Control and Distribution System to make it more accurate and complete. |
Closed – Implemented
AFLC has taken actions to continually update and keep the D049 system file maintained.
|
| Department of the Air Force | The Secretary of the Air Force should direct that procedures similar to those performed by MCA at the wholesale level be adopted at the retail level as soon as possible to review and validate all retail-level contractor requisitions before they are sent to the source of supply. |
Closed – Implemented
The Air Force has started assigning special codes to contractors that support base operations and maintenance service contracts. AFLC is now programming its computers so the change can be incorporated in the stock control and distribution system.
|
| Department of the Air Force | The Secretary of the Air Force should direct that contracts providing for GFM at the retail level list the parts contractors are authorized to obtain whenever it is feasible to do so. |
Closed – Implemented
The required policy guidance was issued on December 1, 1988.
|
| Department of the Air Force | The Secretary of the Air Force should direct that all contractor requisitions be identified and assigned the required contractor DODAAC. |
Closed – Implemented
The Air Force Automated Data Routing System (M024) was programmed to prevent contractor initiated requisitions from bypassing special support stock control and distribution system (D034A) edits. Those requisitions not passing the edits will be rejected to the initiator.
|
| Department of the Air Force | The Secretary of the Air Force should direct that government property administrators conduct adequate annual surveys of the contractors' property control systems. |
Closed – Implemented
The Air Force agreed and issued policy guidance which reemphasizes the need for adequate annual property surveys.
|
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Topics
Accounting systemsAir Force suppliesDepartment of Defense contractorsFederal property managementGovernment owned equipmentInternal controlsInventory control systemsManagement information systemsMilitary inventoriesNoncompliance