Army Acquisition Controls: Materiel Release Process Needs to Be Strengthened
NSIAD-91-184
Published: May 23, 1991. Publicly Released: Jun 27, 1991.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the Army's internal controls for ensuring that newly procured equipment is ready for delivery to and use by field units.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Army | To strengthen the Army's materiel release process, the Secretary of the Army should require that end users be voting members of the review boards. |
Army Regulation 700-142 is being updated to include the Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity as a voting member of the Materiel Release Review Board. The end user has to provide the Board a statement of acceptance before the Board can release materiel, therefore, the user does not need to be a voting member of the Board.
|
| Department of the Army | To strengthen the Army's materiel release process, the Secretary of the Army should ensure that end users submit urgency of need justifications as required for equipment for which review boards plan a conditional or training release and ensure that such justifications are based on well grounded, sound reasoning. |
AMC messages to major commands advising them of Review Board meetings now stress the requirement for valid urgency of need statements and emphasize that justifications for conditional or training releases need to be sufficient.
|
| Department of the Army | To strengthen the Army's materiel release process, the Secretary of the Army should require the review boards to certify that efforts have been made toward correcting systems' deficiencies or that the identified deficiencies are not seriously degrading user needs. |
The Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity will monitor the status of get well actions and report any slippages and supportability problems to AMC and the Office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics.
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Topics
Army procurementArmy suppliesDefense procurementEquipment managementHelicoptersInternal controlsLogisticsProduct evaluationStandards evaluationWeapons systems