Defense Inventory: Overall Inventory and Requirements Are Increasing, but Some Reductions in Navy Requirements Are Possible
Published: 2003-05-08T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: Changes in the Department of Defense's (DOD) mission can lead to changes in inventory requirements, which, in turn, determine the size of DOD's inventory. Since 1990, GAO has identified DOD's management of inventory as a high-risk area because levels of inventory were too high and management systems and procedures were ineffective. Furthermore, DOD has attributed readiness problems to parts shortages. In this report, GAO (1) provides information on changes in and make up of the department's inventory and (2) analyzes changes in inventory requirements, focusing on the Navy.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: DOD reported a $5.6 billion increase in inventory on hand and a $1.7 billion increase in inventory on order between September 30, 1999, and September 30, 2001. The reported inventory increases were primarily due to the Navy reporting aviation parts held by ships and air squadrons that were previously not reported and to overall DOD inventory requirements increases. In addition, GAO identified large imbalances in the department's inventory; as of September 30, 2001, over 1.7 million items had $38 billion of inventory that exceeded the items' current inventory operating requirements of $24.9 billion. At the same time, there were 523,000 items that needed an additional $10.4 billion of inventory to meet the items' current inventory operating requirements. Generally, inventory increases are the result of increases in inventory requirements. DOD's overall inventory requirements increased by $10.6 billion, or 26 percent, between the end of fiscal years 1999 and 2001, with some of the Navy's requirements being overstated. The Navy was responsible for the largest dollar increase, $4.7 billion of the $10.6 billion increase. A large part of the Navy increase, $3.4 billion, was attributable to a change in the way the Navy accounted for aviation parts held by ships and air squadrons. The remaining Navy increase was attributable to a variety of reasons, such as price increases; increased demand and item wear-out rates; and, in some cases, inaccurate data. Also, since 1997 the Navy has reduced the amount of administrative lead time it takes to place inventory orders (the period between when the need to replenish an item through a purchase is identified and when a contract is let), yet it has not formally updated the data used to compute those requirements. For example, the Navy reduced the administrative lead time for medium-sized sole-source contracts for repairable items from 200 days to 130 days, but it did not recognize the reduction in its requirements computations. As a result, those requirements are inaccurate and overstated.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: The Department of Defense maintains a supply of spare and repair parts in  order to keep its equipment operational for war- and peace-time missions.  The management of this inventory is especially critical as the department  and the services are called upon for new missions relating to combating  terrorism worldwide and protecting the homeland. Such changes in  missions can lead to changes in inventory requirements, which, in turn,  determine the size of the inventory.
This report, in response to your interest in the Department of Defense’s  inventory management, is one in a series on the department’s management  of secondary inventory—that is, spare and repair parts, clothing, medical,  and other items that support the military’s operating forces. Since 1990, we  have identified the department’s management of secondary inventory as a  high-risk area because levels of inventory were too high and management  systems and procedures were ineffective. While some improvements have  been made, in January 2003 we reported that these conditions still existed  and that over half of the department’s inventory is not needed to satisfy  current operating requirements. Nevertheless, the department has  attributed readiness problems to parts shortages. In response to your  request, this report (1) provides information on changes in and make up  of the department’s inventory and (2) analyzes changes in inventory  requirements, with a focus on causes of requirements changes derived  from a sample of Navy inventory items.
To accomplish this review, we expanded on previously reported analyses  to cover inventory data from fiscal year 1996 through 2001 for the Army,  the Navy, the Air Force, and the Defense Logistics Agency. We also  analyzed inventory data as of September 30, 2001, to show the number of  items that had more than or less than enough inventory to satisfy  requirements. We compared September 30, 1999, inventory requirements  to September 30, 2001, inventory requirements for the military services  and the Defense Logistics Agency. We used data as of September 30, 2001,  because that was the most recent end of fiscal year data available when  we began our examination. We did not revalue the inventory that needs to  be repaired to recognize the repair cost, and we did not value inventory  that is to be disposed of at salvage prices. Also, our analyses did not  include fuel, certain inventories held by units, and Marine Corps inventory.  Fuel and inventories held by units are not stratified by requirement, and  the Marine Corps inventory represents a small part of the universe.  Because the Navy had the largest increase in inventory requirements  during the period, we analyzed a sample of selected Navy inventory items  to identify key causes of increased inventory requirements. We conducted  our review from June 2002 through March 2003 in accordance with  generally accepted government auditing standards. We provide the details  of our scope and methodology in appendix I.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: The Department of Defense (DOD) refers to the amount of secondary  inventory that it needs to have on hand or on order to support current  operations as the requirements objective. The requirements objective  includes inventory requirements for a reorder point and an economic  order quantity. The reorder point is the point at which inventory  replenishment will normally prevent out-of-stock situations from  occurring. The economic order quantity is the amount of inventory that,  when ordered and received, results in the lowest total cost for ordering  and holding inventory.
When the combined total of on-hand and on-order inventories falls to or  below the reorder point, an item manager generally places an order for  additional inventory so that the total of on-hand and on-order inventories  is equal to the requirements objective. Subsequently, on-hand inventory is  used to satisfy customer requisitions that are received after the item  manager orders new inventory, and thus the total of on-hand and on-order  inventories is generally less than the requirements objective. Furthermore,  an item’s reorder point can move up or down over time and—depending  on the item—may include one or more of the following:    war reserves,    unfilled requisitions,    a safety level to be on hand in case of minor interruptions in the resupply  process or unpredictable fluctuations in demand,    minimum quantities for essential items for which demand is not normally  predicted (also referred to as insurance items),  inventory to satisfy demands while broken items are being repaired,  inventory to satisfy demands during the period between when the need to  replenish an item through a purchase is identified and when a contract is  let (also referred to as administrative lead time), and  inventory to satisfy demands during the period between when a contract  for inventory is let and when the inventory is received (also referred to as  production lead time).
Because the reorder point provides for inventory to be used during  the time needed to order and receive inventory and for a safety level,  item managers are able to place orders so that the orders arrive before  out-of-stock situations occur. Generally, an item manager orders an  amount of inventory needed to satisfy both the reorder point requirement  and the economic order quantity.
section_title: Inventory Growth Reverses Past Reductions
paragraphs: Between September 30, 1999, and September 30, 2001, DOD’s inventory  on hand increased by $5.6 billion and inventory on order increased by  $1.7 billion, reversing past inventory reductions. These inventory increases  were primarily due to the Navy reporting aviation parts held by ships and  air squadrons that were previously not reported and to overall DOD  inventory requirements increases. In addition, large imbalances in the  inventory continue to exist. As of September 30, 2001, over 1.7 million  items had $38 billion of inventory on hand or on order that exceeded the  items’ current inventory operating requirements of $24.9 billion. We also  identified 523,000 items that did not have enough inventory on hand or  on order to meet the items’ current inventory operating requirements.  While the services are implementing management changes that will  reduce the size of DOD’s inventory, long-standing and systemic inventory  management problems continue to exist.
subsections: section_title: Inventory On Hand and On Order Has Begun to Increase
paragraphs: As of September 30, 2001, DOD’s on-hand inventory was $69.8 billion, up  $5.6 billion, or 9 percent, since September 30, 1999, and on-order inventory  was $9.9 billion, up $1.7 billion, or 21 percent (see figs. 1 and 2).
As indicated in figures 1 and 2, the period September 30, 1996, to  September 30, 1999, shows a decline in on-hand and on-order inventories.  During this period, inventory on hand dropped $5.5 billion and inventory  on order dropped $0.7 billion.
section_title: Inventory Growth Caused by Reporting Changes and Requirements Increases
paragraphs: A Navy inventory reporting change and increased DOD inventory  requirements contributed significantly to the growth in DOD’s inventory.  In 1996, the Navy began including aviation inventories held by ships and  air squadrons in its inventory reports. Most of the change occurred in 1999  when the Navy began reporting parts held by aircraft carriers. Previously,  the Navy considered these inventories as having been sold to ships and  installations and not as reported inventory. Based on Navy records, we  estimate that parts valued at about $3.3 billion were added to the  reported inventory as a result of the accounting change. A similar change  by the Army resulted in an inventory increase of $0.3 billion between  September 30, 1999, and September 30, 2001. These Navy and Army  inventory reporting changes correspond to the reporting methods already  in use by the Air Force.
In addition, overall DOD inventory requirements increased from  $40.6 billion as of September 30, 1999, to $51.2 billion as of September 30,  2001. Increased requirements can affect an item’s reorder point and  economic order quantity. Consequently, an increase in requirements can  affect when item managers place orders and the amount of inventory they  purchase and can affect how much inventory is on hand. For example, if  the requirements increase and enough inventory is not on hand or on  order to satisfy the requirements, an item manager will place an order for  additional inventory. When the additional inventory is received, inventory  levels will also be increased.
section_title: Large Inventory Imbalances Still Exist
paragraphs: Since 1995 we have reported on imbalances in DOD’s inventory, and  our current work shows that these imbalances continue to exist. Our  comparison of September 30, 2001, on-hand and on-order inventories to  the requirements objectives for 2.4 million items showed that 1.7 million  items, or 70 percent, had inventory on hand or on order that exceeded the  requirements, and 523,000 items, or 21 percent, did not have enough  inventory on hand or on order to satisfy all of the requirements. The  remaining 209,000 items, or 9 percent, had the right amount of inventory  on hand and/or on order to satisfy all requirements.
The 1.7 million items had $22.1 billion of inventory on hand and   $2.8 billion of inventory on order that satisfied requirements and an  additional $36 billion of inventory on hand and $2.0 billion on order that  exceeded requirements (see table 1).
Overall, the amount of DOD’s inventory that exceeds current operating  requirements has decreased since 1996. On-hand inventory that  exceeds current operating requirements decreased from $41.3 billion, or  59 percent, of on-hand inventory on September 30, 1996, to $36.1 billion,  or 52 percent, of the $69.8 billion inventory on hand on September 30,  2001. During the same period, DOD’s inventory on order that exceeds  requirements decreased from $1.7 billion, or 19 percent, of on-order  inventory to $1.6 billion, or 16 percent, of the $9.9 billion inventory on  order. In 1997, we reported that requirement decreases contributed to  items having inventory on hand that exceeded current requirements.  Similarly, in 2000, we reported that while inventory managers made  inventory purchases that were supported by requirements, subsequent  requirement decreases resulted in the purchases being in excess  of requirements.
We identified 523,000 items that did not have enough inventory on hand or  on order to satisfy all of the requirements that make up the requirements  objective. The items had requirements valued at $23.4 billion that were  partially satisfied by $7.7 billion of inventory on hand and $5.3 billion of  inventory that was on order (see fig. 3). The remaining $10.4 billion of  requirements could be satisfied by purchases.
The amount of inventory exceeding or failing to meet inventory  requirements indicates that many of the long-standing and systemic  inventory management problems previously identified in our Performance  and Accountability Series still exist. We recommended in these reports  that DOD address the long-standing weaknesses that limit the economy  and efficiency of its logistics operations, including having too much  inventory on hand and on order and shortages of key spare parts.  Appendix II lists past reports and recommendations relating to DOD’s  long-standing inventory management problems.
section_title: Management Changes Will Reduce the Size of the Department’s Inventory
paragraphs: The services are implementing management changes that will reduce  the size of DOD’s reported inventory and the amount of inventory that  satisfies requirements. These changes include an initiative to transfer  the traditional DOD inventory and technical support function to parts  contractors and initiatives to implement new inventory management  systems.
The services have initiatives that will transfer the traditional DOD  inventory and technical support function to parts contractors. For  example, as of September 30, 2001, the Navy had about 22,000 items  that were managed by contractors. In some cases, Navy-owned inventory  is being replaced by contractor-owned inventory. The Navy was paying  $330 million for contractors to manage the 22,000 items, and the Navy  planned to increase that amount to over $700 million for the next fiscal  year. According to an official from the Office of the Secretary of Defense,  contractor-owned inventories used to support military operations are  not included in its inventory report. Consequently, the use of contractor- owned inventories will decrease the growth of DOD’s inventory.
In addition, new inventory management systems that the military  components are implementing may also affect the amount of DOD’s  reported inventory. For example, the Air Force’s requirements for  insurance items decreased by $600 million between 1999 and 2001.  According to the Air Force, the requirements decreased as a result of  implementing a new requirements determination system that changed  the way in which it computed those requirements. The Army, the Navy,  and the Defense Logistics Agency are also in the process of developing  new inventory management systems. However, the impact of the  implementation of these new inventory management systems on the size  of DOD’s inventory is not yet known.
Although the initiatives described above will reduce the size of  DOD’s inventory, they do not address the long-standing and systemic  problems that are limiting the economy and efficiency of the department’s  logistics operations.
section_title: Requirements Are Increasing, but Some of Navy’s Are Overstated
paragraphs: DOD’s overall inventory requirements increased by $10.6 billion, or  26 percent, between the end of fiscal years 1999 and 2001, with some of  the Navy’s requirements being overstated. The Navy was responsible for  $4.7 billion of the overall $10.6 billion increase. A large part of the Navy  increase, $3.4 billion, was due to the Navy reporting change we discussed  in the previous section—that is, reporting aviation parts held by ships  and air squadrons as inventory that were previously not reported.  Consequently, the Navy also began reporting the associated requirements.  The remaining $1.3 billion Navy increase was due to a variety of reasons  related to inventory cost and usage. However, some Navy increases were  caused by inaccurate data used to compute administrative lead time  requirements, and as a result, those requirements are overstated.
subsections: section_title: Overall DOD Inventory Requirements Are Increasing
paragraphs: DOD’s overall inventory requirements increased from $40.6 billion as of  September 30, 1999, to $51.2 billion as of September 30, 2001, an increase  of $10.6 billion, or 26 percent. Army, Navy, and Defense Logistics Agency  inventory requirements increased significantly while the Air Force’s  requirements decreased (see table 2). The Navy was responsible for the  largest share of DOD’s overall inventory requirements increase, with  $4.7 billion of the $10.6 billion inventory change.
All requirements that comprise DOD’s requirements objective increased  except for unfilled requisitions and nonrecurring lead time requirements  used by the Air Force. Requirements for safety levels, items held as  insurance against outages; economic order quantities; and production lead  time increased most significantly. Appendix III provides a detailed  comparison of the military components’ inventory requirements as of  September 30, 1999, and September 30, 2001.
Table 2 shows a decrease in the Air Force’s requirements. According to an  Air Force Materiel Command official:    Higher congressional funding levels allowed the Air Force to buy and  repair more of the items that were needed and reduce requirements for  unfilled requisitions.
Requirements for items held as insurance against outages decreased as a  result of implementing a new requirements determination system that  changed the way in which the Air Force computed those requirements.
Requirements for war reserves decreased as a result of decreased need for  F-16 fuel tanks.
section_title: Navy Inventory Requirements Increased for a Variety of Reasons
paragraphs: Navy requirements increased $4.7 billion between September 30, 1999,  and September 30, 2001, primarily due to a change in how the Navy  accounts for aviation inventory requirements. The remaining Navy  increase was due to such reasons as price increases and increased usage  of items. Also, because the Navy has not updated the data used to compute  administrative lead time requirements for some aviation items, those  requirements are overstated.
subsections: section_title: Navy Requirements Increased $4.7 Billion
paragraphs: The Navy’s $4.7 billion increase was not uniform across all requirements.  Safety level, repair cycle, production lead time, economic order quantity,  and insurance items requirements all increased by approximately  $5.0 billion. However, requirements for Navy war reserves, unfilled  requisitions, and administrative lead time actually decreased during this  period, by $331 million (see fig. 4).
A large part of the Navy’s increase was due to a change in the way the  Navy accounts for aviation inventory requirements for parts held by ships  and air squadrons. According to the Navy, prior to 1996, aviation items  that inventory control points sold to customers onboard ships and at  installations were not accounted for in its inventory. In 1996, the Navy  began accounting for aviation items held by ships and installations by  recognizing these requirements and assets in its inventory system and  recording them as insurance item requirements. The Navy made the  change in order to provide item managers visibility of the inventory and  associated requirements and assets. Most of the increase in requirements  and inventory occurred after 1999 when the Navy began to include  aviation parts held on aircraft carriers. Generally, the change in  accounting for these requirements resulted in a $3.4 billion increase in  Navy insurance item requirements, from $2.4 billion on September 30,  1999, to $5.8 billion on September 30, 2001.
To gain insight into why increases in the Navy’s inventory requirements  occurred, we compared the 307,000 items the Navy managed as of  September 30, 1999, to the 309,000 items managed as of September 30,  2001, and identified 279,000 items that were managed in both years.  Overall, the value of the 279,000 items increased $4.2 billion between  September 30, 1999, and September 30, 2001 (see table 3). Of this amount,  $3.1 billion was the result of increased inventory requirement quantities  and $1.1 billion was due to price changes. About 37,000 items accounted  for $4.3 billion in inventory requirements increases, and another 37,000  items accounted for a $1.2 billion decrease in inventory requirements  decreases. There was no change in inventory requirement quantities for  the remaining 205,000 items during the same period of review.
We also reviewed in more detail 90 of the 279,000 items. We selected the  90 items because they had large increases in requirements and accounted  for $1.1 billion of the $4.2 billion of the requirements increase associated  with the 279,000 items. For 37 of the 90 items, insurance requirements  increases accounted for $454 million of the 90 items’ $1.1 billion total  requirements increase between 1999 and 2001. Of the $454 million,  $428 million of the increase was attributable to including existing  aviation requirements and $26 million was attributable to new aviation  requirements. For example, the insurance requirement for an aviation  radar transmitter, valued at $446,000 each and used on the F-18 and the  AV-8B aircraft, increased from 44 transmitters on September 30, 1999, to  196 on September 30, 2001. The requirement caused an increase of  128 transmitters by recognizing existing aviation requirements in the  Navy’s inventory and an increase of another 24 transmitters as a result of  new requirements for these transmitters in newer versions of the  F-18 aircraft.
In addition to the $454 million increase in insurance item requirements,  our analysis of the 90-item sample identified a wide variety of additional  reasons for the increases in requirements. For example, increased usage  of items resulted in requirements increasing by $294 million for 46 items.  Increased usage was often the result of changes in demand for an item,  defective parts needing to be replaced, and items wearing out at a faster  rate than expected. Changes in the Navy’s stock, overhaul, or operational  policies; the inability to find a commercial source for an item; and the  unavailability of material needed to manufacture items were among the  other reasons for requirements increases. Table 4 summarizes the reasons  identified for the requirements increases. Additional information and  examples are discussed in more detail in appendix IV.
The Navy has not formally updated the data it uses to project  administrative lead time requirements for aviation parts since 1999, and  thus these requirements are overstated. Before 1999, the Navy used the  actual administrative lead time from an item’s previous procurement as a  basis for projecting its future administrative lead time requirements for  aviation parts. In 1999, the Navy began using an administrative lead time  matrix for computing the requirements. Under this approach, the Navy  places aviation items into matrix cells based on the type of item being  purchased, the size of the potential purchase, and the type of contract to  be used to purchase the item. The Navy believes that items that are similar  and are purchased in a similar manner will have similar lead times. As of  September 30, 2001, the Navy had computed $895 million of administrative  lead time requirements for its 101,000 aviation parts.
When the Navy implemented the matrix approach for computing  administrative lead time requirements in 1999, it based the requirements  on actual fiscal year 1997 lead time data. Since 1997 the Navy has generally  reduced its actual administrative lead time. While the Navy has  recomputed its administrative lead times using statistical techniques  aimed at reducing fluctuations from year to year, it has not formally  updated the administrative lead time matrix used to compute requirements  to reflect the most current, lower data. However, in response to our  inquiries, the Navy, in December 2002, reviewed the administrative lead  time data used to compute requirements and found that the data had been  revised. Item manager reviews and the purchase of items that had not  recently been purchased led to changes to the lead time data in the files.
Our analysis of the changes showed that the revised data had lowered the  administrative lead times for most of the matrix cells and that the  Navy-computed lead times would be further reduced for most matrix  cells. For example, revised data reduced the lead time from 200 days to  183 days for medium-sized sole-source contracts for repairable items. The  Navy-computed lead time further reduced the lead time to 130 days. In  contrast, for large-sized sole-source contracts for repairable items, the  revised data reduced the lead time from 280 days to 183 days while the  Navy-computed lead time set it at 195 days.
Navy officials responsible for aviation parts have been reluctant to use  the lower Navy-computed lead time data. Even though the Navy uses a  technique to reduce fluctuations in its computed lead time from year to  year, the officials believe that annual changes in the lead time will result in  terminating contracts for parts in 1 year and possibly having to repurchase  the same items the next year.
section_title: Conclusions
paragraphs: The Navy is overstating its administrative lead time requirements for  aviation items by not using the most current data available for computing  those requirements. Because the most current data reflects the Navy’s  reduced administrative lead time, using old data unnecessarily results in  inaccurate and overstated requirements that can lead to unnecessary  purchases. The Navy is concerned that using the most current data  will result in cycles of ordering inventory, canceling the orders, and  subsequently reordering the items. We believe that using the most current  data that is based on statistical techniques aimed at reducing potential  fluctuations in the requirements will result in stable and more accurate  administrative lead time requirements and help the Navy avoid  unnecessary purchases.
section_title: Recommendation for Executive Action
paragraphs: To improve the accuracy of the Navy’s secondary inventory requirements,  we recommend that the Secretary of Defense direct the Secretary of the  Navy to require the Commander, Naval Supply Systems Command,  require its inventory managers to use the most current data available for  computing administrative lead time requirements.
section_title: Agency Comments
paragraphs: In commenting on a draft of the report, DOD generally concurred with  the report. With regard to our recommendation, DOD noted that item  managers use the most current data available to manually compute  administrative lead time requirements when making management  decisions for individual items and that in March 2003, the Navy formally  updated its automated inventory system to begin using the most current  data available to compute administrative lead time requirements for all  items. This action to update the Navy’s automated inventory system  responds to our recommendation.
DOD’s comments can be found in appendix V.
As arranged with your office, unless you publicly announce its contents  earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 30 days from the  issue date. At that time, we will send copies of this report to the Secretary  of Defense; the Secretaries of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force; the  Director, Defense Logistics Agency; the Director, Office of Management  and Budget; and other interested congressional committees. We will also  make copies available to others upon request. In addition, the report will  be available at no charge on the GAO Web site at http://www.gao.gov/.
Please contact me on (202) 512-8365, if you or your staff have any  questions concerning this report. Staff acknowledgments are listed in  appendix VI.
section_title: Appendix I: Scope and Methodology
paragraphs: To identify changes in the Department of Defense’s (DOD) on-hand and  on-order inventories for fiscal years 1996 through 2001, we used data  developed in prior reviews and inventory stratification reports. We  analyzed on-hand and on-order inventories as they related to the military  components’ requirements objectives. We held meetings to discuss these  observations with officials from the Army Materiel Command, Alexandria,  Virginia; the Naval Supply Systems Command, Mechanicsburg,  Pennsylvania; the Air Force Materiel Command, Dayton, Ohio; and the  headquarters of Defense Logistics Agency, Alexandria, Virginia. To  determine the number of items that had more than or less than enough  inventory to satisfy requirements, we obtained computerized inventory  records from the military components as of September 30, 2001, the most  recent end of fiscal year data at the time we began our examination. We  did not test the reliability of the data. We used the computerized records to  compare on-hand and on-order inventories to requirements on an item-by- item basis to determine if items had sufficient inventory available to  satisfy requirements. DOD reported that its secondary inventory was  valued at $63.3 billion in its September 30, 2001, Supply System Inventory  Report. For our analyses, we used inventory stratification files and reports.  We did not revalue the inventory that needs to be repaired to recognize the  repair cost, and we did not value inventory that is to be disposed of at  salvage prices. Also, our analyses did not include fuel, certain inventories  held by units, and Marine Corps inventory. Fuel and inventories held by  units are not stratified by requirement, and the Marine Corps inventory  represents a small part of the universe.
To ascertain the causes for increases in inventory requirements, we  compared September 30, 1999, inventory requirements to September 30,  2001, inventory requirements for the military components. Because the  Navy had the largest dollar increase in requirements, we analyzed the Navy  requirements in more detail. For items that the Navy managed in both 1999  and 2001, we compared the requirements to determine if the requirements  increased, stayed the same, or decreased. We selected 90 items for  detailed review based on how much their requirements increased between  1999 and 2001. The 90 items accounted for about $1.1 billion of the Navy’s  $4.7 billion increase in requirements. We met with appropriate personnel  from the Philadelphia and Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, offices of the  Naval Inventory Control Point to identify the specific reasons for the  items’ increase in requirements.
section_title: Appendix II: GAO Reports and Open Recommendations Relating to DOD’s Inventory Management Problems
subsections: section_title: Defense Inventory: Better Reporting on Spare Parts Spending Will Enhance Congressional Oversight, GAO-03-18, Oct. 24, 2002
paragraphs: DOD’s reports on spare parts spending—called Exhibit OP-31, Spares and  Repair Parts, and submitted as part of the President’s annual budget  submission—do not provide an accurate and complete picture of spare  parts funding as required by financial management regulation. As a result,  the reports do not provide Congress with reasonable assurance about the  amount of funds being spent on spare parts. Furthermore, the reports did  not always contain actual expenditure data: all of the Army’s annual  operations and maintenance appropriations data and most of the services’  commodity amounts were shown as estimates. Without actual data, the  reports are of limited use to Congress as it makes decisions on how best to  spend resources to reduce spare parts shortages and improve military  readiness.
We recommended that the Secretary of Defense:  issue additional guidance on how the services are to identify, compile, and  report on actual and complete spare parts spending information, including  supplemental funding, in total and by commodity, as specified by Exhibit  OP-31; and    direct the Secretaries of the military departments to comply with Exhibit  OP-31 reporting guidance to ensure that complete information is provided  to Congress on the quantities of spare parts purchased and explanations of  deviations between programmed and actual spending.
section_title: Defense Inventory: Improved Industrial Base Assessments for Army War Reserve Spares Could Save Money, GAO-02-650, July 12, 2002
paragraphs: The Army, in its approach for assessing wartime spare parts industrial  base capability, still does not use current data from industry. Instead, the  Army uses historical parts procurement data because its prior efforts to  collect current data from industry were not successful due to poor  response rates. The Army’s assessments depend on historical data and  resulting lead-time factors to project industry’s contribution to satisfying  wartime spare parts requirements. Without current data on industry’s  capability, assessments could be unreliable, resulting in reduced readiness  due to critical spare parts shortfalls in wartime or inflated and costly war  reserve spare parts inventories in peacetime. Moreover, the Army’s budget  requests to Congress for war reserve spare parts risk being inaccurate.
We identified a program in the Defense Logistics Agency that has several  attributes reflecting sound management practices that are required for  reliable industrial base capability assessments. Our analysis of the  approach used by the Army compared to the Defense Logistics Agency’s  spare parts industrial base assessment program revealed that the Army’s  approach can be improved in three areas—data collection, data analysis,  and management strategies.
We recommended that the Secretary of Defense direct the Army to:    establish an overarching industrial base capability assessment process that  considers the attributes in this report;    develop a method to efficiently collect current industrial base capability  data directly from industry itself;    create analytical tools that identify potential production capability  problems such as those due to surge in wartime spare parts demand; and    create management strategies for resolving spare parts availability  problems, for example, by changing acquisition procedures or by targeting  investments in material and technology resources to reduce production  lead times.
section_title: Defense Inventory: Air Force Needs to Improve Control of Shipments to Repair Contractors, GAO-02-617, July 1, 2002
paragraphs: We reported that Air Force and contractor personnel had largely not  complied with DOD and Air Force inventory control procedures designed  to safeguard material shipped to contractors, placing items worth billions  of dollars at risk of fraud, waste, and abuse.
We recommended that the Secretary of Defense direct the Air Force to:  Improve processes for providing contractor access to government- furnished material by  listing specific stock numbers and quantities of material in repair  contracts (as they are modified or newly written) that the inventory  control points have agreed to furnish contractors;    demonstrating that automated internal control systems for loading and  screening stock numbers and quantities against contractor requisitions  perform as designed;  loading stock numbers and quantities that the inventory control points  have agreed to furnish to contractors into the control systems manually  until the automated systems have been shown to perform as designed;  and  requiring that waivers to loading stock numbers and quantities  manually are adequately justified and documented based on cost- effective and/or mission-critical needs.
Revise Air Force supply procedures to include explicit responsibility and  accountability for    generating quarterly reports of all shipments of Air Force material to    distributing the reports to Defense Contractor Management Agency  property administrators.
Determine, for the contractors in our review, what actions are needed to  correct problems in posting material receipts.
Determine, for the contractors in our review, what actions are needed to  correct problems in reporting shipment discrepancies.
Establish interim procedures to reconcile records of material shipped to  contractors with records of material received by them, until the Air Force  completed the transition to its Commercial Asset Visibility system in fiscal  year 2004.
Comply with exiting procedures to request, collect, and analyze contractor  shipment discrepancy data to reduce the vulnerability of shipped  inventory to undetected loss, misplacement, or theft.
section_title: Military Aircraft: Services Need Strategies to Reduce Cannibalizations, GAO-02-86, November 21, 2001
paragraphs: All the military services extensively use cannibalization—that is,  removing serviceable parts from one piece of equipment and installing  them in another—as a routine aircraft maintenance practice. In fiscal  years 1996 through 2000, the Navy and the Air Force reported about  850,000 cannibalizations, requiring about 5.3 million additional  maintenance hours. Cannibalizations have several adverse impacts. They  increase maintenance costs by increasing mechanics’ workloads, affect  morale and personnel retention, and sometimes take expensive aircraft  out of service for long periods of time. Cannibalizations can also create  additional mechanical problems. The services have many reasons for  cannibalizing aircraft and strong incentives for continuing to do so.  However, with the exception of the Navy, they do not consistently track  the specific reasons for cannibalizations. As a result, much of the  information on causes is anecdotal. In the broadest sense, cannibalizations  are done because of pressures to meet readiness and operational needs  and because of shortcomings in the supply system.
We recommended that the Secretary of Defense direct the Army, the Navy  and the Air Force to take the following actions:    Establish standardized, comprehensive, and reliable cannibalization data- collection procedures and systems for cannibalizations.
Measure and report the number of maintenance hours associated with  cannibalizations.
Develop strategies to reduce the number of maintenance hours spent on  cannibalization, ensure that cannibalized aircraft do not remain grounded  for long periods of time, and reduce the adverse effects of cannibalizations  on maintenance costs and personnel. At a minimum, the strategies should  include criteria to determine (1) which cannibalizations are appropriate,  (2) cannibalization-reduction goals, and (3) the actions to be taken to meet  those goals. The services must assign responsibility for ensuring that goals  are being met and allocate resources for this purpose.
section_title: Defense Inventory: Navy Spare Parts Quality Deficiency Reporting Program Needs Improvement, GAO-01-923, August 16, 2001
paragraphs: The Navy’s Product Quality Deficiency Reporting Program has been  largely ineffective in gathering the data needed for analyses so that Navy  managers can determine the full extent of spare parts quality deficiencies  affecting maintenance activities. Without these data, managers lose  opportunities to initiate important corrective and preventive action with  parts and suppliers.
We recommended that the Secretary of Defense direct the Secretary of the  Navy to:  increase the program’s levels of (1) training, describing what quality  deficiencies to report, how to report them, and why it is important to the  Navy; (2) incentives, including financial credits back to the reporting unit  where appropriate to encourage participation; (3) automation support, to  simplify and streamline reporting and analysis; and (4) management  emphasis provided to the program, as necessary, to determine the causes,  trends, and responsibilities for parts failures and achieve greater  compliance with joint-service requirements, including reporting on parts  that fail before the end of their design life; and  require program officials to measure and periodically report to the  appropriate Defense and Navy managers the results of the program in such  areas as actions taken to correct parts quality deficiencies, prevent  recurrences, and obtain credits or reimbursements from suppliers for  deficient products.
section_title: Navy Inventory: Parts Shortages Are Impacting Operations and Maintenance Effectiveness, GAO-01-771, July 31, 2001
paragraphs: Spare parts shortages for the EA-6B and the F-14 aircraft adversely  impacted the Navy’s readiness to perform assigned missions and the  economy and efficiency of its maintenance activities. The shortages also  contributed to problems retaining personnel. The primary reasons for  spare parts shortages were that more parts were required than the Navy  originally anticipated and problems in identifying, qualifying, or  contracting with a private company to produce or repair the parts.
We did not make any recommendations in this report because of our prior  recommendations on improving the Navy’s management framework for  implementing commercial practices and DOD’s efforts to develop an  overarching integration plan.
section_title: Army Inventory: Parts Shortages Are Impacting Operations and Maintenance Effectiveness, GAO-01-772, July 31, 2001
paragraphs: Aviation spare parts shortages for the Apache, Blackhawk, and Chinook  helicopters adversely affected operations and led to inefficient  maintenance practices that have lowered morale of maintenance  personnel. Specifically, while the helicopters generally met their mission- capable goals, indicating that parts shortages have not affected their  mission capability, supply availability rates and cannibalization of parts  from one aircraft to another indicate that spare parts shortages have  indeed been a problem. The reasons for the unavailability of the 90 parts  we reviewed included actual demands for parts that were greater than  anticipated, delays in obtaining parts from a contractor, and problems  concerning overhaul and maintenance. For example, because a cracked  gear in a Chinook transmission was discovered during an overhaul, the  entire fleet was grounded in August 1999. As a result, the demand for the  part has been much greater than anticipated. The Army and the Defense  Logistics Agency have initiatives under way or planned that are designed  to improve the availability of aviation parts. The initiatives generally  address the reasons we identified for spare parts shortages. Additionally,  the Army has developed a Strategic Logistics Plan that is designed to  change its current approach to one that is more effective, efficient, and  responsive. The plan’s initiatives for resolving spare parts shortages are  linked to the asset management process under the Army’s planned change  in approach. Some of these initiatives are new or in the planning stages.  Once the initiatives are more fully developed, we plan to review them to  determine whether there are opportunities to enhance them.
Because we previously reported problems with the way the Army has  implemented its logistics initiatives and recommended that it develop a  management framework for its initiatives, to include a comprehensive  strategy and performance plan, we did not make recommendations in  this report.
section_title: Air Force Inventory: Parts Shortages Are Impacting Operations and Maintenance Effectiveness, GAO-01-587, June 27, 2001
paragraphs: Spare parts shortages on the E-3 and C-5 aircraft and F-100-220 engines  have adversely affected the performance of assigned missions and the  economy and efficiency of maintenance activities. Specifically, the Air  Force did not meet its mission-capable goals for the E-3 or C-5 during  fiscal years 1996-2000, nor did it meet its goal to have enough F-100-220  engines to meet peacetime and wartime goals during that period. The  majority of reasons cited by item managers at the maintenance facilities  for spare parts shortages were most often related to more spares being  required than were anticipated by the inventory management system and  delays in the Air Force’s repair process as a result of the consolidation of  repair facilities. Other reasons included (1) difficulties with producing or  repairing parts, (2) reliability of spare parts, and (3) contracting issues.  The Air Force and the Defense Logistics Agency have numerous overall  initiatives under way or planned that may alleviate shortages of the spare  parts for the three aircraft systems we reviewed. The initiatives generally  address the reasons we identified for the shortages. To ensure that the  initiatives are achieving the goals of increasing efficiencies in the supply  system, the Air Force has developed a Supply Strategic Plan that contains  specific goals and outcome-oriented measures for the initiatives.
Because the Air Force’s plan is in keeping with our previous  recommendations to improve overall logistics planning, we did not make  recommendations in this report. We will separately review the overall  approach and initiatives, once they are more fully developed, to determine  whether there are opportunities to enhance these efforts.
section_title: Defense Inventory: Approach for Deciding Whether to Retain or Dispose of Items Needs Improvement, GAO-01-475, May 25, 2001
paragraphs: DOD’s components do not have sound analytical support for determining  when it is economical to retain or dispose of the $9.4 billion in inventory  the department is holding for economic reasons. The components’  decision-making approaches for retaining economic retention inventory  have evolved from the use of economic models to the use of judgmentally  determined levels. In addition, the department did not have sound  analytical support for the maximum levels they selected. Also, although  the department requires annual reviews of the analyses supporting  economic retention decisions, the components have generally not done  such reviews. As a result of these weaknesses, the department is  vulnerable to retaining some items when it is uneconomical to do so and  disposing of others when it is economical to retain them.
We recommended that the Secretary of Defense direct the Secretaries of  the Army, the Navy, and Air Force and the Director of the Defense  Logistics Agency to:    establish milestones for reviewing current and recently used approaches  for making decisions on whether to hold or dispose of economic retention  inventory to identify actions needed to develop and implement appropriate  approaches to economic retention decisions; and    annually review their approaches to meet department regulations to  ensure that they have sound support for determining economic retention  inventory levels.
section_title: Defense Inventory: Army War Reserve Spare Parts Requirements Are Uncertain, GAO-01-425, May 10, 2001
paragraphs: In the October-December 2000 time frame, the Army reported that it had  about 35 percent of its prepositioned spare parts on hand and a $1-billion  shortfall in required spare parts for its war reserves. Notwithstanding the  reported shortages, we identified uncertainties about the accuracy of the  Army’s requirements. For example, we identified a potential mismatch  between the Army’s methodology for determining parts requirements and  the Army’s planned battlefield maintenance practices.
We recommended that the Secretary of Defense:    Assess the priority and level of risk associated with the Army’s plans for  addressing the reported shortfall in Army war reserve spare parts.
Direct the Army to provide accurate calculations of the Army’s war  reserve spare parts requirements by    developing and using the best available consumption factors in  calculating all spare parts requirements for the Army’s war reserves;    eliminating potential mismatches in how the Army calculates its war  reserve spare parts requirements and the Army’s planned battlefield  maintenance practices; and    developing fact-based estimates of industrial base capacity to provide  the needed spare parts in the two major theater war scenarios time  frames.
Include in future industrial capabilities reports more comprehensive  assessments on industry’s ability to supply critical spare parts for two  major theater wars.
section_title: Defense Inventory: Process for Canceling Inventory Orders Needs Improvement, GAO/NSIAD-00-160, June 30, 2000
paragraphs: Requirements for the 490 items we reviewed often changed after the  orders were placed, which caused the items to exceed requirements.  Further, because of inaccurate inventory records, 182 of the 490 items  (valued at $170 million) were reported as excess, but were not actually  excess to requirements. Because of the large number of inaccurate  records, neither DOD nor the military components know whether  managers are efficiently focusing their efforts to cancel excess inventory  on order, and the department does not have an accurate view of the total  value of its excess inventory on order. Each component’s process for  canceling orders that exceeded requirements differs and cannot be relied  on to consistently identify orders to be considered for cancellation or to  terminate orders when economical.
The components use different criteria for the amount of excess inventory  on order they consider for cancellation.
Only the Defense Logistics Agency consistently uses its computer model to  determine whether it is more economical to cancel orders or not.  However, of the $696 million its model referred for consideration during a  3-month period in 1999, less than $11 million in orders were canceled.
The military components’ frequency in reviewing orders of excess  inventory for cancellation ranges from monthly to quarterly. The longer  components wait to consider an item for cancellation, the less likely  cancellation will be cost-effective because they have to pay the contractor  for costs incurred until the order is canceled.
The components’ goals for reducing excess inventory on order vary and  are not comparable. Thus, the department cannot evaluate the  components’ progress in reducing excess inventory on order in a  consistent way.
We recommended that the Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with the  Secretaries of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, and the Director of  the Defense Logistics Agency review and improve the processes for  identifying and canceling orders, focusing on areas such as  the accuracy of inventory management records;  the level at which the services and the Defense Logistics Agency identify  excess inventory on order that is subject to cancellation review, including  low-dollar excess inventory on order that is excluded from cancellation  review;  the timeliness and frequency of reviews for identifying excess items on- order; and  the validity and use of the military components’ termination models in  making economic analyses.
We also recommended that the Secretary of Defense require the  Secretaries of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, and the Director of  the Defense Logistics Agency to report on the amount of all excess  inventory on order, identifying inventory on order that exceeds both the  requirements objective and the approved acquisition objective.
section_title: Appendix III: DOD and Military Component Inventory Requirements at the End of Fiscal Years 1999 and 2001
paragraphs: Increase/  decrease since  fiscal year  1999  $0.4  0.3  The Army is the only component that uses this requirement for reporting retail level requirements  and inventory. It began its use in fiscal year 2000.
This percentage calculation is not meaningful since comparable data were not available for fiscal  year 1999.
The Army did not use this requirement for fiscal year 1999.
Because there was no data for fiscal year 1999, this percentage could not be computed.
Differences are due to rounding.
section_title: Appendix IV: Reasons for Requirements Increasing between September 30, 1999, and September 30, 2001, for 90 Sample Items
subsections: section_title: Navy Usage Increased
paragraphs: Increased usage resulted in requirements increasing by $294 million for  46 items. Usage of the items increased for a variety of reasons, including  recurring demand for items increased,    defective parts needing to be replaced,    demands being received for items that are not normally stocked,  increases in the number of ships or aircraft using items,  items reaching the end of their useful life,    unplanned foreign military sales,    usage shifting from other items,  items wearing out at a faster rate than expected, and  items being new to the inventory system.
For example, unfilled requisitions, safety level, repair cycle, and  production and administrative lead time requirements for the hub used on  the AH-1W (Cobra) helicopter increased from 24 on September 30, 1999, to  48 on September 30, 2001. During that time, many of the hubs reached the  end of their 1,100-hour life and had to be replaced. As a result, demand for  the $275,000 hub increased from 31 a year in 1999 to 74 a year in 2001.
section_title: Navy Changed Stock, Overhaul, or Operational Policies
paragraphs: Changes in stock, overhaul, or operational policies resulted in  requirements increases of $126 million for 36 items. For example, repair  cycle requirements for a radio transmitter modulator increased from 10 in  September 1999 to 22 in September 2001. The increase was a result of the  Navy requiring that the transmitter modulator, valued at $136,000 each, be  operational 100 percent of the time. Previously, ships were permitted to  operate in a degraded status with the modulator not operational.
section_title: Source or Repair Issues
paragraphs: Source and repair issues for 29 items resulted in requirements increases of  $137 million. A wide variety of reasons fell into this category, including  entering requirements for an item that would no longer be available to  provide support for a weapon system for its remaining life, difficulties in  identifying a commercial source for an item, unavailability of material  needed to manufacture items, and increased time needed to repair or buy  an item. For example, economic order quantity requirements for a data  module used in a submarine control panel increased from 75 in September  1999 to 410 in September 2001. The item manager explained that the  manufacturing source of supply for the data module was being lost, and  the requirement was increased to protect the 419 on-hand modules from  being subject to disposal. In August 2002, the Navy had 229 of the $10,000  modules on hand.
section_title: Uncertainty of Demand, Lead Time, or Wear-Out Rate
paragraphs: Uncertainty of demand, lead time, and the rate at which items wear out for  22 items resulted in safety level requirements increasing by $72 million.  Safety level requirements are intended to compensate for unplanned  increases in demand, lead times, and the rate at which items wear out. For  example, the safety level requirement for an inertial navigational unit used  on several aircraft such as the AV-8B, the F-14D, and several versions of  the F-18 increased from 2 in September 1999 to 15 in September 2001. The  increased requirement was the result of demands for the $170,000 unit  increasing from 155 to 205 a year.
section_title: Increases Were Not Valid
paragraphs: Requirements increases, valued at $98 million, were not valid for seven  items. The reasons for the invalid requirements included overstating the  2001 requirement, understating the 1999 requirement, and inappropriately  recording nonrecurring requirements. For example, the September 2001  requirements requiring replacement for an electron tube for a transmitter  used on the EA-6B aircraft were overstated because the requirements were  inappropriately based on demand for the tube instead of the rate at which  the tube was failing and needed to be replaced. As a result, safety level,  repair cycle, administrative and production lead times and economic order  quantity requirements were overstated by 2,124 tubes for the $57,500 item.
section_title: Data Anomalies
paragraphs: Data anomalies for two items resulted in a requirement increase of   $2 million. For both of the items, requirements increased for unfilled  requisitions. The item manager for the items explained that the items’  requirements, as of September 30, 2001, reflected back orders as of that  date and that the back orders were not the result of any particular  reason—just the status as of that date. The item manager explained that  the back orders went away when material was shipped a few days after  September 30th.
section_title: Appendix V: Comments from the Department of Defense
section_title: Appendix VI: Staff Acknowledgments
paragraphs: Key contributors to this report were Lawson Gist, Jr., Louis Modliszewski,  David Epstein, and R.K. Wild.