Page 1 GAO-12-527R Force Structure

United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548

March 26, 2012

Congressional Committees

 

Subject: Force Structure: Assessment of Army Report on Fiscal Year 2011 Progress 

in Modular Restructuring

The Army considers its modular force transformation the most extensive 

restructuring it has undertaken since World War II. Restructuring the Army from its 

division-based force to a brigade-based force requires investments in equipment and 

in the retraining of personnel. The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act

(NDAA) for Fiscal Year 20071 directed the Army to report to Congress annually, on 

the date that the President submits a budget to Congress, on, among other things,

progress made during the previous fiscal year to ensure that financial resources are 

provided for the repair, recapitalization, and replacement of equipment used in the 

global war on terrorism, the overall equipment requirements of Army units 

transforming to modularity, the reconstitution of prepositioned stocks, and the

schedule for meeting those requirements. The same law directed the Comptroller 

General to provide an annual report assessing the Army’s progress in staffing and 

equipping the modular force, among other things. In our 2008 report addressing this 

legislative requirement, we reported that the Army did not have a comprehensive 

and transparent approach to measure progress against its modularity objectives and 

that Congress should consider specifying more clearly the reporting elements that 

would be most useful in overseeing the transformation.2 The Ike Skelton NDAA for 

Fiscal Year 2011,

3 enacted on January 7, 2011, retained the requirement for the

Army to report annually on its progress toward implementing modularity but specified 

new elements to be included in the Army’s report, such as reporting on key enabler 

equipment and personnel available to modular units. It also directed the Comptroller 

General to review the Army’s annual report. To respond to this mandate, we are 

reporting information on the extent to which the Army’s annual fiscal year 2011 

report addressed the statutory reporting requirements. 

 

1

See Pub. L. No. 109-364, § 323 (2006). 2

GAO, Force Structure: The Army Needs a Results-Oriented Plan to Equip and Staff Modular Forces 

and a Thorough Assessment of Their Capabilities, GAO-09-131 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 14, 2008). 3

See Pub. L. No. 111-383, § 332 (2011).
Page 2 GAO-12-527R Force Structure

To address our objective, we reviewed relevant laws and related Army reports on 

progress in modular restructuring. Specifically, we reviewed section 323 of the John 

Warner NDAA for Fiscal Year 2007 and section 332 of the Ike Skelton NDAA for 

Fiscal Year 2011, both of which required reports on issues related to Army progress 

in modular restructuring. We also reviewed two reports that the Army issued in fiscal 

year 2011 on progress toward modular restructuring—a February 2011 interim 

report on progress toward implementing the Army modular force initiative and toward 

resetting and prepositioning Army stocks, and a final report issued in September 

2011 entitled Fiscal Year 2011 Report on the Prioritization of Funds for Equipment 

Readiness and Strategic Capability. We evaluated the extent to which the contents

of these reports addressed the legally mandated reporting requirements of the Ike 

Skelton NDAA for Fiscal Year 2011. To corroborate our understanding of DOD’s

approach for responding to the legislative requirements of the Ike Skelton NDAA for 

Fiscal Year 2011, we discussed the Army’s approach with officials responsible for 

the development of the Army reports on progress toward modular restructuring. We 

conducted this performance audit from September 2011 through March 2012 in 

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those 

standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate 

evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on

our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable 

basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objective.

According to the Army’s Fiscal Year 2011 Report on the Prioritization of Funds for 

Equipment Readiness and Strategic Capability, issued in September 2011, the 

report addressed the requirements of the John Warner NDAA for Fiscal Year 2007 

rather than the amended requirements stipulated in the Ike Skelton NDAA for Fiscal 

Year 2011. The report does include some information that addresses aspects of the 

updated reporting requirements. For example, the 2011 NDAA requires the Army to 

include a description of the status of the development of doctrine on how modular 

combat, functional, and support forces will train, be sustained, and fight. In 

addressing the old reporting requirements in the 2007 NDAA, the Army’s 2011 report 

discusses modifications to the modularity plan due to finalization of organizational 

designs and the need to reprioritize due to the emergence of higher-priority forceprotection programs. However, the report does not mention the status of the 

development of doctrine on how modular combat, functional, and support forces will 

train, be sustained, and fight, as required by the current law.

Army officials responsible for developing the mandated report said that they did not 

address the amended requirements because they were not aware of the changes in 

the legislation. Army officials attributed this oversight to internal miscommunication. 

According to these officials, the Army plans to revise and reissue its September

2011 report to respond to the amended reporting requirements and, at the same 

time, develop its 2012 report. Officials told us that they planned to issue both the 

revised 2011 and the 2012 report on April 30, 2012. Army officials noted, however,

that responding to the legislative requirements that require the Army to discuss plans 
Page 3 GAO-12-527R Force Structure

for the future will be challenging because decisions about the size and structure of 

the Army force are under review and may not be finalized prior to the reporting date. 

DOD reviewed a draft of this letter and did not provide comments.

________________

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional committees, 

the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of the Army. This report also is

available at no charge on our website at http://www.gao.gov. 

Should you or your staff have any questions concerning this report, please contact 

me at (404) 679-1816 or pendletonj@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of 

Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this 

report. GAO staff who made major contributions to this report are listed in enclosure 

I.

John H. Pendleton,

Director, Defense Capabilities and Management

Enclosure
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List of Committees

The Honorable Carl Levin

Chairman

The Honorable John McCain

Ranking Member

Committee on Armed Services

United States Senate

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye

Chairman

The Honorable Thad Cochran

Ranking Member 

Subcommittee on Defense

Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate

The Honorable Howard P. “Buck” McKeon

Chairman

The Honorable Adam Smith

Ranking Member

Committee on Armed Services

House of Representatives 

The Honorable C.W. “Bill” Young

Chairman

The Honorable Norman D. Dicks

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Defense

Committee on Appropriations

House of Representatives 
Page 5 GAO-12-527R Force Structure

Enclosure I

GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

John H. Pendleton, (404) 679-1816 or pendletonj@gao.gov

Staff Acknowledgments

In addition to the contact named above, Margaret G. Morgan, Assistant Director; 

Natalya Barden; Mae Jones; Nicole Willems; and Matthew R. Young made 

significant contributions to the report.

(351636)
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