Defense Logistics: DOD Input Needed on Implementing Depot Maintenance Study Recommendations

This report responds to section 322 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009. Section 322 required the Secretary of Defense to contract for a study on the capability and efficiency of the depots of the Department of Defense (DOD) to provide the logistics capabilities and capacity necessary for national defense. DOD placed a task order under an existing contract with LMI, Inc. (LMI) to complete the study, which was to address a range of issues specified in section 322. As required by section 322, the task order specified that the contractor submit an interim report on its study to the Senate and House Committees on Armed Services not later than 1 year after the commencement of the study and a final report not later than 22 months after the date on which the Secretary of Defense enters into the contract. LMI submitted its interim report, containing background information and summary data on the DOD depot maintenance enterprise, to the Committees on Armed Services in December 2009. The final report, containing conclusions and recommendations, was provided to the Committees on Armed Services in February 2011. Section 322 also directed GAO to provide an assessment of the feasibility of the recommendations and whether the findings were supported by the data and information examined and to submit a report to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives within 90 days of the date on which the contractor submitted its final report. In response, our objectives were to determine the extent to which (1) LMI's reports addressed the five issues and 33 subissues specified in the law, (2) the findings in LMI's final report were supported by the data and information examined, and (3) the recommendations in LMI's final report were feasible.