Navy Ship Maintenance: Temporary Duty Assignments of Temporarily Excess Shipyard Personnel Are Reasonable
NSIAD-98-93
Published: Apr 21, 1998. Publicly Released: Apr 21, 1998.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Navy's practice of using temporary duty assignments of naval personnel to perform ship maintenance and repair work at homeports without nearby naval shipyard capability, focusing on the: (1) rationale supporting the Navy's practice; (2) cost-effectiveness of these assignments; and (3) factors affecting future requirements for the practice.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | To ensure that Navy resources are used in the most cost-effective manner, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Navy to consider using the private sector for workloads that are performed routinely by naval shipyard personnel on temporary duty. |
Closed – Implemented
The Navy agreed to investigate opportunities to increase the amount of private sector repair work to be performed in the San Diego area. The purchase of ship repair facilities in San Diego by the two largest major ship repair companies has increased the potential for assigning submarine selected restricted availabilities to the private sector. One availability has been assigned to the private sector in 2000, two in 2001, and one in 2002.
|
| Department of the Navy | When reductions in future workloads are significant, the Navy should determine the extent to which it could reduce its shipyard capacity and associated personnel. In making these determinations, the Navy needs to ensure that all applicable statutory requirements are met. |
Closed – Implemented
The Navy is actively working to reduce the number of shipyard personnel and the physical capacity of ship repair activities to better utilize the remaining resources and hold down the cost of Navy ship repair work. For example, in Puget Sound, which was the area where GAO focused GAO's work on excess capacity for this report, the shipyard has reduced its personnel by 858 since 1997 and is planning to reduce physical capacity as a result of a consolidation of the shipyard with several intermediate repair activities during 2001. Navy officials said that their initiatives to reduce physical capacity are limited by the availability of funds for relocating equipment and destroying excess buildings.
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Topics
Cost effectiveness analysisEquipment maintenanceStaff utilizationMilitary vesselsNaval basesNaval personnelNaval suppliesPrivatizationShipyardsTemporary employment