Defense Inventory: New York Army National Guard Weapons Parts
NSIAD-91-28
Published: Nov 30, 1990. Publicly Released: Nov 30, 1990.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the New York Army National Guard's controls over small-arms parts.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | Since GAO work at the New York Army National Guard showed that Army regulations were inadequate to control and secure small arms parts, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Army to revise supply and maintenance regulations to require that key duties and responsibilities be assigned to separate individuals in the small arms repair and supply processes. |
DOD concurred with the recommendation and stated that its New York State National Guard has taken action to ensure standard operating procedures in the combined support maintenance shops and the unit training equipment sites have been revised and updated to include separation of duties in the small arms repair process.
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| Department of Defense | Since GAO work at the New York Army National Guard showed that Army regulations were inadequate to control and secure small arms parts, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Army to revise supply and maintenance regulations to require that repair parts exceeding a unit value of $10 be excluded from bench stock. |
DOD stated that an item from bench stock should be based more on sensitivity, pilferability, or other specialized qualities of the item, rather than entirely on cost. However, the New York National Guard has established a $10 unit cost limitation on all small arms bench stocks.
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| Department of Defense | Since GAO work at the New York Army National Guard showed that Army regulations were inadequate to control and secure small arms parts, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Army to revise supply and maintenance regulations to require that discrepancies in shop stock inventories be documented, investigated, reported and resolved. |
DOD agreed and stated that the Secretary of the Army will direct that procedures be established in Unit Supply Update 14, which is a procedural change update to the Army regulation to ensure appropriate inventory, causative research, and documentation of results are processed and filed by activities maintaining shop stock.
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| Department of Defense | Since GAO work at the New York Army National Guard showed that Army regulations were inadequate to control and secure small arms parts, the Secretary of the Defense should direct the Secretary of the Army to revise supply and maintenance regulations to require that the Standard Army Maintenance System be protected to prevent access by unauthorized personnel. |
The Army initiated a review of access codes and accessible data files to ensure that the Standard Army Maintenance System is protected, controlled, and only accessible to authorized personnel.
|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Army to require that inventory accuracy standards that effectively control inexpensive small arms parts be applied. |
The Department of the Army has established an inventory accuracy standard of 85 percent, with a goal of 95 percent, and the standard is applicable to, and was implemented by, the New York National Guard in November 1990.
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| Department of Defense | Since GAO work at the New York Army National Guard showed that Army regulations were inadequate to control and secure small arms parts, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Army to revise supply and maintenance regulations to require that work orders be maintained to show that important steps in the small arms repair process are followed. |
DOD stated that the Army has adequate policies and procedures in place. However, the New York National Guard has implemented procedures to ensure that all important steps in the small arms process are properly documented on the repair work orders.
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| Department of Defense | Since GAO work at the New York Army National Guard showed that Army regulations were inadequate to control and secure small arms parts, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Army to revise supply and maintenance regulations to require that for every new part that is requisitioned from shop stock, an old part be turned in and the disposition of the old part be recorded on the work order. |
DOD partially concurred, stating that there should be controls on specific types of nonrepairable items, such as sensitive, pilferable, and other special categories, but not all weapons parts because it would be work-load prohibitive. However, because of internal control problems, its New York National Guard accounts for all parts in the small arms repair process.
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Accounting proceduresArmy suppliesFacility securityFederal property managementInternal controlsInventory controlInventory control systemsLarcenySpare partsWarehouse facilities