The Army has divided nonstandard equipment into two broad categories:  Nontactical nonstandard equipment, which consists primarily of durable goods that are used to provide services for soldiers as well as foreign governments. This equipment includes but is not limited to fire trucks and ambulances, as well as equipment used for laundry and food service. Most of this equipment has been acquired through the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) and is managed and sustained by contractors under the LOGCAP contract (hereinafter referred to as contractor-managed, government-owned property).  Tactical nonstandard equipment, which is commercially acquired or nondevelopmental equipment that is rapidly acquired and fielded outside the normal Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution System and acquisition processes, in order to bridge capability gaps and meet urgent warfighter needs. According to Army documents, as of March 2011, 36.5 percent of all Army equipment in Iraq was contractor-managed, government-owned property, with a value of approximately $2.5 billion. Furthermore, as of March 2011 an additional 10.7 percent of Army equipment in Iraq, valued at approximately $1.6 billion, was categorized as nonstandard equipment. According to Army officials, all equipment—standard and nonstandard— must be out of Iraq by December 31, 2011. We have reported on issues related to nonstandard equipment in Iraq in the past. In September 2008 we identified several issues that could affect the development of plans for reposturing U.S. forces from Iraq. One of those issues was that DOD, CENTCOM, and the military services had not clearly established roles and responsibilities for managing and executing the retrograde of standard and nonstandard equipment from Iraq. We also noted that data systems used during the retrograde process were incompatible, and although a fix for the data system incompatibility had been identified, it had not been implemented. As a result, we recommended that the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with CENTCOM and the military departments, take steps to clarify the chain of command over logistical operations in support of the retrograde effort. We also recommended that the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the military departments, correct the incompatibility weaknesses in the various data systems used to maintain visibility over equipment and materiel while they are in transit. DOD partially concurred with our first recommendation, and took steps to clarify the chain of command over logistical operations in support of the retrograde effort. DOD fully concurred with our second recommendation, stating that it was actively assessing various data systems used to maintain visibility over equipment and materiel while in transit. Finally, though we made no recommendations on this issue, we noted that maintaining accountability for and managing the disposition of contractor-managed, government- owned property may present challenges to reposturing in Iraq. In February 2009, in testimony before the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives, we addressed factors that DOD should consider as the United States refines its strategy for Iraq and plans to draw down forces. We then included a section on managing the redeployment of U.S. forces and equipment from Iraq in our March 2009 report on key issues for congressional oversight. In November 2009, in a statement before the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, we presented some preliminary observations on DOD’s planning for the drawdown of U.S. forces from Iraq, and in April 2010 issued a report that highlighted actions needed to facilitate the efficient drawdown of U.S. forces and equipment from Iraq. In our April 2010 report, we noted that DOD had created new organizations to oversee, synchronize, and ensure unity of effort during the drawdown from Iraq, and had established goals and metrics for measuring progress. We also noted that, partly in response to our September 2008 report recommendations, representatives from the Secretary of Defense’s Lean Six Sigma office conducted six reviews to optimize theater logistics, one of which focused on the process for retrograding equipment from Iraq, including disposition instructions. Results from the Lean Six Sigma study influenced the development of a new data system—the Theater Provided Equipment Planner—which is intended to automate the issuance of disposition instructions for theater provided equipment. Complementing the Theater Provided Equipment Planner database was a second database—the Materiel Enterprise Non-Standard Equipment database—which catalogued all types of nonstandard equipment in Iraq in order to provide automated disposition. However, we also noted that officials in Iraq and Kuwait stated that, of all categories of equipment, they had the least visibility over contractor-managed, government-owned property, and that U.S. Army Central Command officials said they had low confidence in the accountability and visibility of nonstandard equipment. While these reports, testimonies, and statements focused primarily on plans, procedures, and processes within the CENTCOM area of responsibility, especially in Iraq and Kuwait, this report’s focus will be specifically on nonstandard equipment and MRAPs, and primarily on the plans, processes, and procedures that affect its disposition once it leaves the CENTCOM area of responsibility. MRAPs were first fielded in Iraq in May 2006 by the Marine Corps for use in western Iraq. A year later, the Secretary of Defense affirmed the MRAP program as DOD’s most important acquisition program. As of July 2011, DOD’s acquisition objective was 27,744 MRAPs; according to DOD officials, funding appropriated through fiscal year 2011 is sufficient to cover 27,740. The vast majority of these MRAPs were allocated to the Army for use in Iraq and, increasingly, in Afghanistan. According to Joint Program MRAP statistics, as of February 2011, MRAPs had been involved in approximately 3,000 improvised explosive device events, and have saved thousands of lives. We have also reported on MRAPs in the past. In October 2009, we reported positively on the quick action taken by the Secretary of Defense to declare the MRAP program DOD’s highest priority. However, we also noted as key challenges that long-term sustainment costs for MRAPs had not yet been projected and budgeted and that the services were still deciding how to incorporate MRAPs into their organizational structures. In November 2009, in a statement before the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, we noted that although the Army had not yet finalized servicewide requirements for its MRAPs, it had designated Red River Army Depot as the depot that would repair MRAPs, and had issued a message directing the shipment of 200 MRAPs from Kuwait to Red River Army Depot as part of an MRAP Reset Repair Pilot Program. However, we also noted that as of October 2009, there were approximately 800 MRAPs in Kuwait awaiting transportation to the United States. In April 2010 we noted that the Army’s strategy for incorporating MRAPs into its ground vehicle fleet was still pending final approval. As part of the Iraqi drawdown effort, excess nonstandard equipment that is no longer needed in Iraq is either redistributed in the CENTCOM theater, disposed of, provided to other nations through foreign military sales, or packaged for retrograde to a variety of Defense Logistics Agency Distribution Depots or Sierra Army Depot in the United States. According to Army Materiel Command, the majority of the excess nontactical nonstandard equipment is sent to Sierra Army Depot. According to officials at Sierra Army Depot, as of April 2011 the depot had received a total of 22,507 pieces of nontactical nonstandard equipment worth over $114.9 million, and still has on hand approximately 13,200 items worth more than $75 million. Smaller items, which are stored in a warehouse, include such items as desktop computers, computer monitors, printers, laptop computers, handheld palm computers, distress beacons, night vision goggles, rifle scopes, laser sights, radios, and radio frequency amplifiers. Larger items, which are stored outside, include all- terrain vehicles, generators, tractors, fire suppression systems, large refrigerators, and light sets. Once the items are received at Sierra Army Depot, they are removed from their containers, inventoried, evaluated for serviceability, catalogued, and placed in the appropriate location in the warehouse or, if they are larger items, in the appropriate outside storage location. Simultaneously, once the items are catalogued, they are recorded in Sierra Army Depot’s property book for accountability. According to guidance issued by Headquarters, Department of the Army, Army Materiel Command is to provide Army Commands, Army Service Component Commands, and Army Direct Reporting Units access to the inventory of nontactical nonstandard equipment stored at depots such as Sierra Army Depot through the Materiel Enterprise Non-Standard Equipment database; the guidance also discusses use of the depot property book to view available nonstandard equipment. Using these means to view what is on hand at Sierra Army Depot, units can request items from Army Materiel Command, which will then process the request and coordinate for its shipment to the requesting unit. In January 2011, Army Materiel Command introduced another means by which units can requisition nontactical nonstandard equipment from Army Materiel Command. Called the “virtual mall,” this tool uses the Materiel Enterprise Non-Standard Equipment database as a means by which units can both view items at Sierra and other Army depots and request them for their use. According to Sierra Army Depot records, as of April 2011 it had shipped more than 7,600 individual pieces of nontactical nonstandard equipment to various Army organizations. The total value for these items exceeded $29 million.