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Defense Management: Opportunities to Reduce Corrosion Costs and Increase Readiness

GAO-03-753 Published: Jul 07, 2003. Publicly Released: Jul 07, 2003.
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Highlights

The Department of Defense (DOD) maintains equipment and infrastructure worth billions of dollars in many environments where corrosion is causing military assets to deteriorate, shortening their useful life. The resulting increase in required repairs and replacements drives up costs and takes critical systems out of action, reducing mission readiness. GAO was asked to review military activities related to corrosion control. Specifically, this report examines the extent of the impact of corrosion on DOD and the military services and the extent of the effectiveness of DOD's and the services' approach to preventing and mitigating corrosion.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense To craft an effective strategy, the Secretary of Defense should direct that the department's strategic plan for corrosion prevention and mitigation include developing standardized methodologies for collecting and analyzing corrosion cost, readiness, and safety data.
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with all recommendations for Executive Action in the report. DOD stated it "is committed to meeting the requirements of Congress and, to the extent compatible with its core mission, the positive recommendations of the GAO report." In DOD's Corrosion Prevention and Mitigation Strategic Plan dated November 2004, DOD noted that the working integrated product team for Specifications, Standards and Qualification Process established an objective to develop standardized methodologies for collecting and analyzing corrosion cost, readiness, and safety data. In 2005, the DOD corrosion office issued a report that described the proposed method and structure for developing the cost of corrosion throughout DOD. DOD officials also said that this method will also be used to develop standardized methodologies for readiness and safety issues related to corrosion. As of March 2019, in collaboration with DOD's Corrosion Prevention and Control Integrated Product Team, a DOD contractor has developed two of the three recommended standardized methodologies. Specifically, there are standardized methodologies for collecting, analyzing, and regularly reporting on corrosion cost and readiness data. Although these standardized methodologies are not included in the DOD Corrosion Prevention and Mitigation Strategic Plan (dated September 2015), the plan notes that a working integrated product team is responsible for these methodologies. A DOD contractor produced a safety study on the effect of corrosion on Department of the Army and Department of the Navy aviation mishaps in 2015. However, according to Corrosion Office officials, no funding has been available to develop a standardized methodology for collecting and analyzing safety data .
Department of Defense To craft an effective strategy, the Secretary of Defense should direct that the department's strategic plan for corrosion prevention and mitigation include developing clearly defined goals, outcome-oriented objectives, and performance measures that show progress toward achieving objectives (these measures should include such elements as the expected return on investment and realized net savings of prevention projects).
Closed – Not Implemented
DOD concurred with all recommendations for Executive Action in the report. DOD stated it "is committed to meeting the requirements of Congress and, to the extent compatible with its core mission, the positive recommendations of the GAO report." In DOD's Corrosion Prevention and Mitigation Strategic Plan dated November 2004, DOD stated that the working integrated product team for Metrics, Impact and Sustainment established as one of its objectives initiating studies and surveys to determine the impact of corrosion, pinpoint critical areas for concentration of prevention and mitigation efforts and to develop metrics to measure the effect of corrosion and results of prevention and mitigation efforts. In its 2005 update to the DOD corrosion strategic plan, DOD included a revised list of metrics for cost, readiness and safety and the associated outcomes that would result from the implementation of these metrics. In addition, the strategic plan included details of corrosion projects funded in 2005 and 2006 and the expected results of completing the projects in terms of achieving cost savings, increasing readiness, and enhancing safety. As of March 2019, Corrosion Office officials stated that they plan to include goals, objectives, and performance measures in the update to the DOD Corrosion Prevention and Mitigation Strategic Plan. In January 2021, the Corrosion Office issued a DOD Corrosion Prevention and Control Strategy document. This document identifies overarching goals and objectives. Further, it states that the Corrosion Office and the military departments' Corrosion Executives will jointly develop primary performance measures and goals which would then be incorporated into future iterations of the strategy. However, according to Corrosion Office officials, it will take the department between 12 to 24 months to develop and validate performance measures as well as develop more specific goals and objectives for corrosion areas of improvement. Therefore, we are closing this recommendation as not implemented.
Department of Defense To craft an effective strategy, the Secretary of Defense should direct that the department's strategic plan for corrosion prevention and mitigation include identifying the level of resources needed to accomplish goals and objectives.
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with all recommendations for Executive Action in the report. DOD stated it "is committed to meeting the requirements of Congress and, to the extent compatible with its core mission, the positive recommendations of the GAO report." In its April 2007 update to Congress regarding its corrosion prevention and mitigation efforts to implement its strategic plan, DOD identified four objectives to the plan requiring 2005 funding: technology implementation, policy implementation, training and certification, and specifications and standards refinement. Total funding required to complete these efforts ($27 million) was identified, requested, appropriated and used for these purposes. The 2007 update also identifies total long-term funding required for fiscal years 2006-2011 (about $14 million each year). Most of the funding is planned for corrosion projects that have a potential return on investment of at least 10-1 (some already reported as having a high actual return on investment and some having an ROI exceeding 10-1). As of March 2019, DOD was statutorily required, beginning with fiscal year 2009, to provide an annual corrosion funding report to Congress with the defense budget materials that included, among other items, funding requirements for the long-term corrosion strategy. The Corrosion Office has regularly submitted funding requests and other details in reports to Congress. This resource information is not included in the current DOD Corrosion Prevention and Mitigation Strategic Plan (dated September 2015).
Department of Defense To craft an effective strategy, the Secretary of Defense should direct that the department's strategic plan for corrosion prevention and mitigation include establishing mechanisms to coordinate and oversee prevention and mitigation projects in an interservice and servicewide context.
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with all recommendations for Executive Action in the report. DOD stated it "is committed to meeting the requirements of Congress and, to the extent compatible with its core mission, the positive recommendations of the GAO report." In its May 2005 status update to its corrosion prevention and mitigation efforts to implement its strategy, DOD noted establishing a working integrated product team for Specifications, Standards and Qualification Process that has objectives to develop a listing of DOD-wide corrosion standards and specifications and to establish a standardized process qualification process for new corrosion-related products and services. This working group developed a composite listing of DOD-wide corrosion-related specifications and standards. In addition, the working group has included in DOD's corrosion exchange website this composite DOD-wide listing and a web-based assisted approach guiding DOD personnel and contractors through the process of getting potential products through the product qualification process. As of March 2019, the Corrosion Office has included two appendixes describing specific processes regarding corrosion science and technology development efforts and projects in the current DOD Corrosion Prevention and Mitigation Strategic Plan (dated September 2015).
Department of the Air Force To provide greater assurances that the department's strategic plan will be successfully implemented, the secretaries of each of the services should develop servicewide strategic plans that are consistent with the goals, objectives, and measures in the departmentwide plan.
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with all recommendations for Executive Action in the report. DOD stated it "is committed to meeting the requirements of Congress and, to the extent compatible with its core mission, the positive recommendations of the GAO report." The DOD corrosion office in 2006 completed a draft DOD Instruction that establishes policy and details the roles and responsibilities for all DOD components and all military services in respect to implementing the goals and objectives of the DOD's corrosion prevention and mitigation strategic plan. Provisions of the Directive include for each military service to designate a service-wide focal point, consider and implement corrosion prevention and mitigation planning throughout the life-cycle of equipment and facilities, and establish and maintain a corrosion prevention and mitigation reporting system. In the April 2007 update to Congress regarding DOD's corrosion prevention and mitigation efforts to implement the strategic plan, the Air Force is noted as having representation on all working integrated product teams for DOD's corrosion prevention and mitigation participating in the funding and implementation of annual corrosion prevention and mitigation projects.
Department of the Navy To provide greater assurances that the department's strategic plan will be successfully implemented, the secretaries of each of the services should develop servicewide strategic plans that are consistent with the goals, objectives, and measures in the departmentwide plan.
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with all recommendations for Executive Action in the report. DOD stated it "is committed to meeting the requirements of Congress and, to the extent compatible with its core mission, the positive recommendations of the GAO report. ?The DOD corrosion office in 2006 completed a draft DOD Instruction that establishes policy and details the roles and responsibilities for all DOD components and all military services in respect to implementing the goals and objectives of the DOD's corrosion prevention and mitigation strategic plan. Provisions of the Directive include for each military service to designate a service-wide focal point, consider and implement corrosion prevention and mitigation planning throughout the life-cycle of equipment and facilities, and establish and maintain a corrosion prevention and mitigation reporting system. In the April 2007 update to Congress regarding DOD's corrosion prevention and mitigation efforts to implement the strategic plan, the Navy is noted as having representation on all working integrated product teams for DOD's corrosion prevention and mitigation and participating in the funding and implementation of annual corrosion prevention and mitigation projects.
Department of the Army To provide greater assurances that the department's strategic plan will be successfully implemented, the secretaries of each of the services should develop servicewide strategic plans that are consistent with the goals, objectives, and measures in the departmentwide plan.
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with all recommendations for Executive Action in the report. DOD stated it "is committed to meeting the requirements of Congress and, to the extent compatible with its core mission, the positive recommendations of the GAO report. The DOD corrosion office in 2006 completed a draft DOD Instruction that establishes policy and details the roles and responsibilities for all DOD components and all military services in respect to implementing the goals and objectives of the DOD's corrosion prevention and mitigation strategic plan. Provisions of the Directive include for each military service to designate a service-wide focal point, consider and implement corrosion prevention and mitigation planning throughout the life-cycle of equipment and facilities, and establish and maintain a corrosion prevention and mitigation reporting system. In the April 2007 update to Congress regarding DOD's corrosion prevention and mitigation efforts to implement the strategic plan, the Army is noted as having representation on all working integrated product teams for DOD's corrosion prevention and mitigation participating in the funding and implementation of annual corrosion prevention and mitigation projects.
Department of the Air Force To provide greater assurances that the department's strategic plan will be successfully implemented, the secretaries of each of the services should establish procedures and milestones to hold major commands and program offices that manage specific weapon systems and facilities accountable for achieving the strategic goals.
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with all recommendations for Executive Action in the report. DOD stated it "is committed to meeting the requirements of Congress and, to the extent compatible with its core mission, the positive recommendations of the GAO report." In February 2007, DOD issued a draft update to its Corrosion Prevention and Mitigation Strategic Plan. The plan establishes and provides specific details for the procedures and milestones for the secretaries of each of the services (including the Air Force) in respect to managing corrosion prevention and mitigation of their respective weapons systems and facilities.
Department of the Navy To provide greater assurances that the department's strategic plan will be successfully implemented, the secretaries of each of the services should establish procedures and milestones to hold major commands and program offices that manage specific weapon systems and facilities accountable for achieving the strategic goals.
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with all recommendations for Executive Action in the report. DOD stated it "is committed to meeting the requirements of Congress and, to the extent compatible with its core mission, the positive recommendations of the GAO report." In February 2007, DOD issued a draft update to its Corrosion Prevention and Mitigation Strategic Plan. The plan establishes and provides specific details for the procedures and milestones for the secretaries of each of the services (including the Navy) in respect to managing corrosion prevention and mitigation of their respective weapons systems and facilities.
Department of the Army To provide greater assurances that the department's strategic plan will be successfully implemented, the secretaries of each of the services should establish procedures and milestones to hold major commands and program offices that manage specific weapon systems and facilities accountable for achieving the strategic goals.
Closed – Implemented
DOD concurred with all recommendations for Executive Action in the report. DOD stated it "is committed to meeting the requirements of Congress and, to the extent compatible with its core mission, the positive recommendations of the GAO report." In February 2007, DOD issued a draft update to its Corrosion Prevention and Mitigation Strategic Plan. The plan establishes and provides specific details for the procedures and milestones for the secretaries of each of the services (including the Army) in respect to managing corrosion prevention and mitigation of their respective weapons systems and facilities.

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Topics

Combat readinessEquipment maintenanceCorrosionMilitary budgetsMilitary cost controlMilitary materielU.S. Air ForceU.S. ArmyU.S. NavyCorrosion prevention