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Defense Depot Maintenance: DOD Shifting More Workload for New Weapon Systems to the Private Sector

NSIAD-98-8 Published: Mar 31, 1998. Publicly Released: Mar 31, 1998.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed: (1) the Department of Defense's (DOD) policy and implementation plans for allocating depot-repair workloads for new and upgraded weapon systems between the public and private sectors; and (2) the process it uses to make source-of-repair decisions.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense To provide for consistent and comprehensive source-of-repair decisions, the Secretary of Defense should direct that action be taken to clarify the inconsistencies among DOD Regulation 5000.2-R, DOD Directive 4151.18, service implementing instructions, and provisions in the 1998 Defense Authorization Act. In taking this action, at a minimum, the approach for analyzing core, cost, readiness, and sustainability factors for making source-of-repair decisions should be clearly defined.
Closed – Implemented
Revisions to DOD Regulation 5000.2-R were finalized in June 2001. Revisions included expanded sections on source-of-repair guidance, single manager responsibilities, and specific cross-references to related core policy and DOD Directive 4151.18. DOD completed its review of core policy and implementation in February 2001. The Services revised policies and procedures for making source-of-repair decisions which are designed to integrate logistics support decisions with acquisition milestones.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct that the service secretaries assess the adequacy of the analyses supporting source-of-repair decisions made over the last 2 years. These reviews should be done based on the previously recommended clarifications to the decisionmaking approach. Where weaknesses in the analysis are identified, new analyses should be done and adjustments made to the source-of-repair decisions where appropriate and feasible.
Closed – Implemented
Source-of-repair guidance and acquisition policies continue to evolve and be revised. In response to this recommendation, DOD officials stated that, when there are changes in guidance, the service secretaries will determine whether previous decisions must be revisited. They stated that the services continually assess and make changes in source-of-repair for affordability, and to maintain depot capability and efficiency. They further stated that they plan to review prior decisions when appropriate during future program decision points. Thus, while there are no announced plans to reassess the adequacy of all decisions made over the 2-year period before the report's issue date, by agreeing to reassess source-of-repair decisions at major decision points, DOD is partially responsive to the recommendation.

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Topics

Weapons systemsCost effectiveness analysisDefense cost controlDefense procurementEquipment maintenanceMaintenance costsMilitary downsizingPrivatizationDepot maintenanceLogistics