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Open Recommendations

Air Force Readiness: Actions Needed to Address Depot Maintenance Delays and Staffing Challenges
GAO-26-107890
May 14, 2026
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10 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Air Force The Secretary of the Air Force should ensure that AFMC uses the original target completion date as a primary metric for reporting on depot maintenance timeliness to show the full extent of depot maintenance delays. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Air Force The Secretary of the Air Force should ensure AFMC calculates and reports on the proportion of overall depot delays due to issues outside the depots' control, such as unplanned work. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Air Force The Secretary of the Air Force should ensure that AFMC revises guidance to limit target completion date revisions after depot maintenance has been completed. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Air Force The Secretary of the Air Force should ensure that AFMC establishes consistent implementation of the revision process for target completion dates across depots and program offices. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Air Force The Secretary of the Air Force should ensure that AFMC revises its delay cause categories to improve their specificity and make category definitions available to all stakeholders. (Recommendation 5)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Air Force The Secretary of the Air Force should ensure that AFMC requires inputting a delay root cause analysis in the root cause reporting system for all aircraft exceeding their original target completion date. (Recommendation 6)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Military Personnel: DOD Should Improve Processes for Determining Cost-of-Living Allowances
GAO-26-107490
Apr 30, 2026
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to ensure that the department uses random sampling for the LPS. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DOD did not concur with this recommendation. In its response, the department stated that random sampling is not the appropriate methodology for the Living Pattern Survey (LPS). DOD stated that it wants as many service members as possible to participate in the data collection instead of having small, random samples for the Living Pattern Survey (LPS). The department further stated that the responses it collects through the LPS are weighted to correct for non-response bias and ensure they accurately represent the entire population of the surveyed location. According to DOD, the quota sampling approach they use allows the department to construct a comprehensive and representative picture of the spending habits of all service members, effectively compensating for any missing data. However, we found that DOD cannot be sure that the completed surveys are a valid representation of service members' costs of living. The quota sampling methodology the department currently relies on is known to produce biased estimates and the weighting procedures it uses are not able to fully mitigate its shortcomings. We maintain that using random sampling for the LPS would improve the department's COLA determination process, as we recommended in April of 2026.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to implement changes in the COLA process for OCONUS, such as using the LPS to consistently identify location-specific expenses and determine whether such expenses should be reimbursed, in accordance with DOD policy. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DOD concurred with this recommendation. In its response the department stated that it will actively encourage respondents to provide open-ended feedback in the comments section of the Living Pattern Survey (LPS). The department plans to analyze the responses using Artificial Intelligence to process and summarize the themes and specific expenses reported for a particular location. If DOD provides respondents with clear instructions to report expenses that are not reflected in the LPS and uses appropriate methodologies to analyze those results the department will be in a better position to fully reflect the expenses of service members living in various locations as part of its COLA process, as we recommended in April 2026.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should require the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to review and determine whether CONUS COLA dependent-based compensation should be adjusted to reflect changes in spendable income for up to five dependents, as the department does with OCONUS COLA. (Recommendation 3)
Open
DOD concurred with this recommendation. In its response the department stated that it is willing to explore potential changes to align the CONUS COLA policy on dependents with the OCONUS COLA policy. The department acknowledged that these changes may require modifications to statute, policy, and payroll systems. Adjusting the CONUS COLA policy on dependents with the OCONUS COLA policy would follow the criteria laid out by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and DOD noted that this change would ensure greater equity for service members, as we reocmmended in 2026.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to develop guidance requiring local commands to provide information about the COLA programs to service members at locations that receive COLA. Such information should include the website where DOD provides information on the COLA programs and the contact information of an office that can answer questions about COLA. (Recommendation 4)
Open
DOD partially concurred with this recommendation. In its response, DOD stated that the Defense Travel Management Office already maintains a comprehensive website that serves as the official source for COLA information. The department also stated that it does not support a central point of contact to address COLA inquiries and maintains that a service member's chain of command remains the most effective channel for COLA inquiries. However, we found that despite having the website and local commands sending out information on COLA, service members still did not understand how their COLA payments were determined. DOD stated that it will soon commence a 12-month military compensation educational campaign to help inform service members about their total military compensation, which includes COLA. Additionally, DOD stated that it is working to simplify available COLA materials that will be disseminated to commands around the world. We believe these changes will help service members understand COLA but we also maintain that requiring local commands to consistently communicate information on COLA programs, particularly key information such as changes in COLA payments, will help service members understand their COLA payments so they can budget appropriately for expenses, as we recommended in April 2026.

Industrial Security: Improved Risk Management and Stakeholder Engagement Needed to Help DOD Address Mission Gaps
GAO-26-107861
Apr 24, 2026
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense, through the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, should ensure that the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency identifies and develops enhanced analytic tools for field operators to better support their assessments of risk at the regional level. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security implements a risk response plan with specific actions to address the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency-identified risk of a limited workforce for industrial security. Such actions could include, as appropriate, changing the periodicity of security reviews to align with DOD's overall risk appetite in the mission area, sharing more industrial security responsibilities with the military departments, or other steps that DOD deems appropriate to address the risks to industrial security. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense, through the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, should ensure that the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency comprehensively assesses the NAESOC risk response effort, including identifying its resourcing and personnel needs, establishing outcome-oriented performance goals, and evaluating its organizational alignment with other directorates. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense, through the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, should ensure that the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency continuously engages with relevant stakeholders—including regional DCSA, military department, and industry officials—throughout the development process for NI2, to include requirements development and other stages prior to testing. In doing so, the department should revisit the Capability Needs Statement with relevant stakeholders to validate that it meets their needs, and update it, if necessary. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Weapon System Sustainment: DOD Identified Critical Cost Growth, and the Army Should Take Action to Yield Cost Savings
GAO-26-108140
Apr 23, 2026
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Army The Secretary of the Army, in coordination with the Chief of Staff of the Army, should ensure that the Army's units implement the software update identified in the CROWS remediation plan on a timely basis. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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