Defense Management: DOD Needs to Implement Statutory Requirements and Identify Resources for Its Cross-Functional Reform Teams
Fast Facts
DOD's organizational and management challenges have made it hard for the department to find efficiencies and cut costs. To address this issue, DOD created 9 teams of experts from various DOD offices to reform the department's business processes (such as health care and financial management).
We found that these teams identified 135 reform initiatives, such as consolidating IT systems, but 104 of these initiatives have yet to be implemented. One reason is that some teams lack resources to fully implement their initiatives.
We recommended that DOD establish a process to identify and prioritize available funding for implementing these reforms.
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Highlights
What GAO Found
The Department of Defense (DOD) has implemented four statutory requirements in section 911 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, but has not addressed five requirements intended to support cross-functional teams and promote department-wide collaboration (see table).
Status of Department of Defense's Implementation of Requirements in Section 911 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017, as of December 2018
|
Section 911 requirement |
Statutory due date |
Status |
|
Award contract for a study on cross-functional teams |
March 15, 2017 |
Completed |
|
Provide the results of the study to Congress |
July 15, 2017 |
Completed |
|
Establish cross-functional teams |
September 30, 2017 |
Completed |
|
Issue report on cross-functional teams |
June 23, 2018 |
Completed |
|
Develop and issue an organizational strategy |
September 1, 2017 |
Not completed |
|
Issue guidance on cross-functional teams |
September 30, 2017 |
Not completed |
|
Streamline Office of the Secretary of Defense |
June 23, 2018 |
Not completed |
|
Provide training to cross-functional team members and their supervisors |
Not specified |
Not completed |
|
Provide training to presidential appointees |
Within 3 months of appointment |
Not completed |
Source: GAO analysis of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2017 and Department of Defense information. | GAO-19-165
For two of these requirements, DOD has missed the statutory deadline by more than a year. GAO previously recommended that DOD take actions to improve its implementation of section 911, and DOD reported it is doing so, such as revising its draft cross-functional team guidance to address statutory requirements. Fully implementing GAO's prior recommendations and the remaining statutory requirements would better position DOD to effectively implement its cross-functional teams and advance a collaborative culture, as required by the NDAA.
Nine cross-functional teams are driving DOD's enterprise business reform efforts under section 921 of the FY 2019 NDAA, but the teams' progress has been uneven. As of September 2018, DOD reported that these nine teams were pursuing a total of 135 business reform initiatives. However, 104 of these initiatives have not reached the implementation phase. A key challenge facing the teams is that some lack resources to fully implement their approved initiatives. For example, DOD officials stated that the department did not fulfill four of nine funding requests from the teams in fiscal year 2018 to implement their initiatives. As of September 2018, DOD officials estimated that the teams need about $6.7 billion to implement their initiatives from FYs 2018 through 2024, but DOD has not identified sources for this funding. GAO's prior work on efficiency initiatives found that up-front investments may be required to realize long-term savings. In addition, GAO's prior work on leading practices for implementing effective cross-functional teams highlights the importance of providing teams with access to resources and having well-defined team operations with established rules and procedures. However, DOD has not established a process for identifying and prioritizing available funding for implementing the teams' initiatives. Without such a process, DOD and the teams may not be able to adequately plan for and execute their reform initiatives.
Why GAO Did This Study
DOD continues to confront organizational challenges that hinder collaboration. To address these challenges, section 911 of the NDAA for FY 2017 directed the Secretary of Defense to issue an organizational strategy that identifies critical objectives that span multiple functional boundaries; establish cross-functional teams to support this strategy and provide related guidance and training; and take actions to streamline the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Further, section 921 of the NDAA for FY 2019 calls for the Secretary of Defense to reform the department's enterprise business operations.
The NDAAs for FY 2017 and 2019 also included provisions for GAO to assess DOD's actions in response to sections 911 and 921, respectively. This report assesses the extent to which DOD has made progress in (1) addressing the requirements of section 911, and (2) reforming the department's enterprise business operations under section 921. GAO reviewed documentation on DOD's implementation of sections 911 and 921; interviewed cross-functional team leaders, members, and other DOD officials; and compared DOD's implementation of its cross-functional teams to GAO's key practices.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that DOD establish a process to identify and prioritize funding for implementing its cross-functional teams' business reform initiatives. DOD concurred with this recommendation.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense |
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Chief Management Officer establishes a process for identifying and prioritizing available funding to develop and implement initiatives from the cross-functional reform teams. (Recommendation 1) |
Closed – Not Implemented
Officials from the Office of the Chief Management Officer (OCMO) told us that OCMO had developed a Defense Enterprise Reform Management Framework in collaboration with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and the Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation. According to those officials, this process established a simple, standard, repeatable process for identifying and prioritizing the Departments' business reform initiatives, and required stakeholder buy-in throughout the initiatives' life-cycle. The Chief Management Officer position was eliminated in the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization. As a part of implementing those provisions, the Deputy Secretary of Defense disestablished the Reform Management Group, which was responsible for overseeing the department's business reform efforts-and transferred its responsibilities to the Defense Business Council. The Deputy Secretary of Defense also transferred responsibility for department-wide business reform efforts to the Director of Administration & Management (DA&M). According to officials from the Office of the DA&M all cross-functional teams have been disestablished, and members of the teams have migrated back to their home components. In addition, the ODA&M has no intention of reestablishing the cross-functional reform teams or directing funding to reform efforts led by cross-functional teams. As a result, we are closing this recommendation as not implemented.
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