Navy Maintenance:

Improvements Needed in the Aircraft Engine Repair Program

NSIAD-90-193BR: Published: Jun 18, 1990. Publicly Released: Jun 18, 1990.

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Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Navy's aircraft engine repair program to determine whether: (1) charges for engine repairs were supportable and reasonable; and (2) opportunities existed for reducing labor and materiel costs.

GAO found that: (1) in 1989, naval aviation depots performed depot-level maintenance on over 2,200 engines, and generated revenues of about $243 million; (2) the depots charged their customers $101 million more for labor and materiel during fiscal years 1987, 1988, and 1989 than was justified by actual expenditures; and (3) the Navy did not provide sufficient management review and controls to ensure that engine repair prices were reasonable in view of actual labor and materiel expenditures. GAO also found that the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) did not: (1) ensure that the depots were complying with existing guidance to coordinate when developing labor estimates for engine models repaired by multiple depots; (2) follow up on past depot study recommendations for greater consistency in the repair of dual-sited engines; and (3) ensure that significant labor variances for common repair tasks were analyzed with a goal of sharing more efficient repair processes.

Recommendations for Executive Action

  1. Status: Closed - Implemented

    Comments: NAVAIR is submitting quarterly reports outlining its progress in correcting shortcomings in the engine repair program.

    Recommendation: To ensure that corrective actions are fully implemented, the Secretary of the Navy should direct the Commander, NAVAIR, to report on the status of those actions periodically until they are fully implemented. This report should specifically include, but not be limited to, comments on the status of efforts to ensure that the depots comply with guidance to coordinate development of labor hour estimates for dual-sited engine repairs so that the most efficient repair processes are used at both depots.

    Agency Affected: Department of Defense: Department of the Navy

  2. Status: Closed - Implemented

    Comments: NAVAIR is submitting quarterly reports outlining its progress in correcting shortcomings in the engine repair program.

    Recommendation: To ensure that corrective actions are fully implemented, the Secretary of the Navy should direct the Commander, NAVAIR, to report on the status of those actions periodically until they are fully implemented. This report should specifically include, but not be limited to, comments on the status of efforts to consider historical labor hour expenditures in developing labor hour estimates for future years.

    Agency Affected: Department of Defense: Department of the Navy

  3. Status: Closed - Implemented

    Comments: NAVAIR is submitting quarterly reports outlining its progress in correcting shortcomings in the engine repair program.

    Recommendation: To ensure that corrective actions are fully implemented, the Secretary of the Navy should direct the Commander, NAVAIR, to report on the status of those actions periodically until they are fully implemented. This report should specifically include, but not be limited to, comments on the status of efforts to improve the accuracy of factors, such as repair frequency and planned efficiency data, used to arrive at the final labor hour estimate charged customers.

    Agency Affected: Department of Defense: Department of the Navy

  4. Status: Closed - Implemented

    Comments: NAVAIR Instructions 5220.16 and 13023.1 provide policy and guidance to correct shortcomings in the engine repair program workload standards. NAVAIR will provide the Secretary of the Navy with quarterly reports outlining its progress in implementing the instructions. The first progress report was dated February 21, 1991.

    Recommendation: To ensure that corrective actions are fully implemented, the Secretary of the Navy should direct the Commander, NAVAIR, to report on the status of those actions periodically until they are fully implemented. This report should specifically include, but not be limited to, comments on the status of efforts to improve the labor standards program to ensure that labor hour estimates for engine repairs are valid.

    Agency Affected: Department of Defense: Department of the Navy

  5. Status: Closed - Implemented

    Comments: NAVAIR is submitting quarterly reports outlining its progress in correcting shortcomings in the engine repair program.

    Recommendation: To ensure that corrective actions are fully implemented, the Secretary of the Navy should direct the Commander, NAVAIR, to report on the status of those actions periodically until they are fully implemented. This report should specifically include, but not be limited to, comments on the status of efforts to implement a material initiative at all depots that limits materiel orders to the maximum quantities of parts required for each engine repair.

    Agency Affected: Department of Defense: Department of the Navy

 

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