Depot Maintenance: Workload Allocation Reporting Improved, but Lingering Problems Remain
NSIAD-99-154
Published: Jul 13, 1999. Publicly Released: Jul 13, 1999.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) distribution of depot maintenance workloads, focusing on: (1) DOD's compliance with the percentage requirement in 10 U.S.C. 2466; (2) comparing the results of DOD's recent report of fiscal year (FY) 1998 workload with prior years' reports; (3) the continuing weaknesses in the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of reported data; and (4) improvements in DOD's guidance, data collection processes, oversight, and opportunities to further improve the quality of future reports.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | To improve the data collection and reporting processes, the Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with the secretaries of the military departments and commanders of the defense agencies and activities, should provide additional clarifying guidance in areas of uncertainties such as those involving warranties that include the performance of maintenance, remanufacturing, and consolidation of depot and nondepot work at individual locations. |
Closed – Implemented
In response to the recommendation, OSD and the military services improved their data collection guidance in the specific problem areas GAO cited in the report and recommendation. During this year's 50/50 review, GAO determined that the services more fully and consistently reported depot workloads in these areas (NSIAD-00-193).
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| Department of Defense | To improve the data collection and reporting processes, the Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with the secretaries of the military departments and commanders of the defense agencies and activities, should increase management emphasis and oversight to ensure reporting requirements are adequately communicated to all organizational levels responsible for providing workload reporting data. |
Closed – Implemented
In response to the recommendation, OSD and the military services increased management oversight to ensure reporting requirements were adequately and more widely communicated to reportable programs and organizations. During this year's 50/50 review, GAO noted several actions taken to better disseminate reporting responsibilities and achieve more accurate, comprehensive reporting. In all three military departments, more organizations reported depot data than in past years. (NSIAD-00-193).
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| Department of Defense | To improve the data collection and reporting processes, the Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with the secretaries of the military departments and commanders of the defense agencies and activities, should consider greater involvement of service audit agencies and statistical methods, as appropriate, to verify workload reporting data before the data is submitted to the Office of the Secretary of the Defense. |
Closed – Implemented
OSD and the military services agreed with GAO's recommendation to make greater use of their audit agencies to verify data and validate collection procedures. In GAO's review of the 50/50 reports issued in 2000, it determined that the Navy made use of its audit agency for the first time, the Army expanded the use of its audit agency, and the Air Force continued to effectively employ its auditors. The auditing agencies' reviews identified many errors, which were corrected before being forwarded to OSD for consolidation and submission to the Congress.
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| Department of Defense | To improve the data collection and reporting processes, the Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with the secretaries of the military departments and commanders of the defense agencies and activities, should ensure retention of necessary documentation to verify workload allocations. |
Closed – Implemented
Although GAO's 50-50 reviews since the issuance of this report continue to find instances of inadequate documentation, OSD and the services have reemphasized its importance in guidance and in internal planning meetings. Also, the use of the service audit agencies--at least in the Army and Air Force--has resulted in some improvements as they provide another check on the quality and comprehensiveness of data. GAO expects that it will continue to see some deficiencies in documentation, particularly given the large number of reporting offices and the often high turnover of staff assigned to report 50-50 data.
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| Department of Defense | To improve the data collection and reporting processes, the Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with the secretaries of the military departments and commanders of the defense agencies and activities, should provide future years' projections along with the prior-year data, or as otherwise required by Congress. |
Closed – Implemented
Congress mandated the annual reporting of outyear public and private sector workload data in the fiscal year 2000 Defense Authorization Act. DOD made its intial reporting of projected workload allocations in April 2000, and GAO has reviewed, thus far, three reports of future-years projections.
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Topics
Cost effectiveness analysisData collectionData integrityDepartment of Defense contractorsEquipment maintenanceMaintenance services contractsPrivatizationReporting requirementsDepot maintenanceU.S. Army