Concerns Raised About Use of Unreconciled Activity Codes to Requisition New and Excess Government Property
Highlights
Concerns have been raised about the use of unreconciled activity address codes to requisition new and excess government property. The Department of Defense's (DOD) regulation 4000.25-6-M requires that all military services and DOD activities reconcile the activity codes to the Defense Automatic Addressing System Center's master file. Such reconciliations could prevent unauthorized personnel from requesting and receiving government property. GAO found, however, that many military service points failed to comply with DOD's regulation. Most indicated that they were unaware of the requirement. As a result of this, 27,879 activity codes appeared either in the agency record but not the Addressing System Center's master file or in the Center's file but not the agency record. In addition, agencies that have their own internal activity code files do not routinely reconcile to the master file. This failure resulted in 97,450 activity codes being identified as questionable. In both situations, inventory management is vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse. In fact, preliminary indications are that such questionable activity codes were used to requisition millions of dollars worth of excess and new property.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense and the Administrator, General Services Administration (GSA), should direct that actions be taken to ensure that military services, DOD activities, and federal agencies regularly (1) reconcile their activity address codes (to include internal activity address code files) with the master activity address code file maintained by the Defense Automatic Addressing System Center and certify results to the Defense Logistics Agency, and (2) review for the possible elimination of any unmatched codes from their internal files. |
Closed – Not Implemented
DOD directed the military services to review their procedures for updating inventory and management data in the Defense Automatic Addressing System Center, in accordance with DOD policy, to ensure that their activity address codes are accurate and current. GAO is waiting for validation that all unmatched codes have been eliminated from their internal files.
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense and the Administrator, GSA, should direct that actions be taken to ensure that all personnel responsible for reconciling activity address codes are appropriately trained regarding the reconciliation and certification process; with regard to GSA, this would mean that all involved personnel should understand reconciliation procedures. |
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Defense has taken action to ensure that personnel involved in reconciling and certifying activity address codes understand the applicable procedures.
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| General Services Administration | The Secretary of Defense and the Administrator, GSA, should direct that actions be taken to ensure that all personnel responsible for reconciling activity address codes are appropriately trained regarding the reconciliation and certification process; with regard to GSA, this would mean that all involved personnel should understand reconciliation procedures. |
Closed – Implemented
In its response to GAO's final report, the General Services Administration stated that personnel responsible for reconciling activity address codes are aware of and understand the reconciliation and certification process.
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