Army Acquisition: More Testing Needed to Solve Heavy Equipment Transporter System Problems
NSIAD-93-228
Published: Jul 16, 1993. Publicly Released: Aug 02, 1993.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Army's acquisition of a new Heavy Equipment Transporter System (HETS), focusing on whether the: (1) Army adequately justified the expanded HETS mission and increased HETS quantity requirement; (2) new HETS has demonstrated a capability to meet its mission requirements; and (3) Army's HETS acquisition complied with the Department of Defense's (DOD) fly-before-buy policy.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should require the Army to perform a new: (1) production quality test at the contractually required mileage; and (2) operational test of the new HETS using the current HETS mission profile. |
DOD did not agree. The Army has completed the 8,000-mile PQT extension rather than the recommended contractually required 20,000-mile test. The Army does not plan to perform a new operational test. DOD concluded that the original operational test has been conducted in full compliance with DOD test policies and had adequately demonstrated system performance.
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| Department of Defense | To minimize the Army's funding commitment before the Army is sure the new HETS can accomplish its intended mission, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Army to stop conditionally accepting HETS tractors and semitrailers once the currently authorized limit is met--535 tractors and 290 semitrailers--until HETS shows that it can meet its intended mission and reliability and maintainability requirements. |
As a result of the extended PQT, the Army concluded that HETS had met all its intended mission, reliability, and maintainability requirements. Therefore, the Army granted first article test approval to the HETS tractor on January 18, 1994, and to the HETS trailer on February 15, 1994.
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| Department of the Army | In view of the highway safety issue, the Secretary of the Army should require compliance with the system's safety review board's conditions regardless of whether the new HETS is operated on public roads or roads located on military installations. |
All system safety review board recommendations to reduce the hazard of the identified safety issues have been fully implemented either through configuration changes designed to lessen the swing-out or through procedural changes to the operations manual. The operator's manual requires compliance regardless of whether HETS is operated on public or installation roads.
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Army procurementDefense capabilitiesDefense contingency planningDepartment of Defense contractorsFederal procurement policyMilitary cost controlMilitary land vehiclesTestingMilitary forcesPublic roads or highways