Air Force Logistics: Improved Redistribution of Retail Inventories Needed
NSIAD-91-165
Published: Jul 10, 1991. Publicly Released: Jul 10, 1991.
Skip to Highlights
Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the Air Force's management of its excess retail inventory, focusing on whether the Air Force: (1) accurately and completely reported the inventory; (2) properly considered it in procurement decisions; and (3) used it to fill other retail activities' requisitions.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should instruct the Director, Defense Logistics Agency, to hold item managers' responses to Air Force reports of excess for a maximum of 90 days rather than 75 days. |
The Department of Defense (DOD) amended the Military Standard Requisitioning and Issuing Procedures on September 18, 1991, requiring the Defense Automated Addressing System Office to retain Air Force reports of excess for a maximum of 90 days.
|
| Department of the Air Force | The Secretary of the Air Force should require retail supply activities to report all assets above their requisitioning objectives to wholesale inventory managers and to DEPRA. |
On January 28, 1991, the Air Force directed its Standard Systems Center to modify the Standard Base Supply System to report all assets above the requisitioning objective to wholesale managers. The action was completed in February 1992.
|
| Department of the Air Force | The Secretary of the Air Force should direct the Commander, Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC), to: (1) minimize the manual processing of reports of excess; and (2) ensure that ALC item managers have clear guidance on the procedures that should be used to manually direct the redistribution of reported excess to fill backorders. |
AFLC issued instructions to ALC on July 1, 1991, reinforcing the need for item managers to laterally redistribute base excesses to fill backorders.
|
| Department of the Air Force | The Secretary of the Air Force should direct major commands to use the quarterly DEPRA operations report to monitor whether bases are reporting their excess assets. |
The recommended action was taken in June 1991.
|
| Department of the Air Force | The Secretary of the Air Force should direct the Commander, AFLC, to expand the scope of the Air Force Logistics Management Center's inventory dynamics study to enable the Center to recommend actions that will reduce the: (1) amount of unneeded materiel that Air Force units and activities buy and subsequently return; and (2) amount of excess Systems Support Division and General Support Division materiel that retail supply activities have on requisition. |
The recommended action was taken in July 1991.
|
Full Report
GAO Contacts
Public Inquiries
Topics
Air Force procurementAir Force suppliesAssetsDefense cost controlInventory controlInventory control systemsLogisticsMilitary inventoriesReporting requirementsSurplus federal property