Defense Inventory: Property Being Shipped to Disposal Is Not Properly Controlled
NSIAD-99-84
Published: Jul 01, 1999. Publicly Released: Jul 01, 1999.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) management procedures for controlling excess weapon system parts, components, equipment, and other inventory items that are being shipped to disposal, focusing on the: (1) types and amounts of excess property that is reported as not received when shipped to disposal; and (2) weaknesses in management controls over excess property that is being shipped to disposal that makes it vulnerable to waste, abuse, or loss.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should include actions in the statutorily-required plan for visibility over shipped inventory that would address the lack of adherence to internal control procedures for safeguarding excess property shipped to disposal to include researching and investigating discrepancies between what was reported as sent to disposal and what was received. |
Closed – Implemented
The statutorily required plan, "Plan to Ensure Visibility of In-transit End Items and Secondary Items," dated September 7, 1999, and implementation plans from the Army (May 19, 2000) the Navy (April 2000), Marine Corps (May 19, 2000), Air Force (July 19, 2000), and TRANSCOM (April 11, 2000) were issued to address adherence to internal control procedures, personnel training, and data accuracy. Also, in response to GAO's report, DOD made changes to its Intransit Control System and to the Military Standard Requisitioning and Issue Procedures. The changes which include edits and revised matching criteria, will eliminate $2.7 billion in erroneous transactions that were previously passed through the system.
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should include actions in the statutorily-required plan for visibility over shipped inventory that would address insufficiently trained personnel. |
Closed – Implemented
In response to this recommendation, DOD created a new training web site instruction guide that addresses accountability of excess assets and stresses such concepts as accountability, responsibility, and stewardship. In addition, at its top 10 military service generators of excess property, DOD placed special emphasis for truing on an on-going basis. DOD also conducted additional in-house training for disposal office personnel and requested each military service to evaluate the need for additional training.
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should include actions in the statutorily-required plan for visibility over shipped inventory that would address data accuracy problems contained in the In-transit Accountability System reports. |
Closed – Implemented
GAO reported that the disposition of almost $99 million of transactions were incorrectly recorded and automatically provided to the In-Transit Accountability System, causing the system's reports to be erroneous and diminishing their value as a tool for tracking excess items. In response, DOD established a task force under the Joint Commanders Material Management Group. The group confirmed GAO's findings and created transaction edits to prevent such erroneous transactions from being passed to the IN-Transit Accountability System.
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should include actions in the statutorily-required plan for visibility over shipped inventory that would address the need for performance measures, milestones, and timetables to help monitor the progress being made to reduce the vulnerability of property being shipped to disposal to undetected loss or misplacement. |
Closed – Implemented
The statutorily required plan, dated September 7, 1999, set forth performance measures, milestones, and timetables that DOD is using to help monitor the progress being to reduce the vulnerability of property being shipped to disposal to undetected loss or misplacement.
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Topics
AccountabilityData integrityFederal property managementInternal controlsInventory control systemsManagement information systemsMilitary inventoriesProperty disposalProperty lossesSurplus federal propertyComputer programming