Defense Infrastructure: DOD's 2013 Facilities Corrosion Study Addressed Reporting Elements

What GAO Found

GAO's review found that DOD's July 2013 report addressed the four elements specified in the House Committee on Armed Services' report. Specifically, the report by the Director of DOD's Corrosion Office addressed the following elements related to corrosion of facilities and infrastructure: (1) identification of key drivers of corrosion costs and recommended strategies for reducing their effect; (2) review of a sampling of facilities that are representative of facility type, military department, and facility age; (3) assessment of at least one planned facility construction program; and (4) inclusion of information from 30 locations (15 site visits and 15 teleconferences) and the examination of program documentation from all the locations, including maintenance and facility engineering processes.

Why GAO Did This Study

In its report accompanying HR 1540, a bill for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, the House Committee on Armed Services directed DOD's Director of the Office of Corrosion Policy and Oversight (the Corrosion Office) to conduct an evaluation of corrosion matters related to the department's facilities and infrastructure and specified the reporting elements the study was to address. The same report directed GAO to provide an assessment of DOD's 2013 facilities and infrastructure corrosion evaluation study. To conduct the review, two analysts independently reviewed and assessed DOD's report to determine whether it contained information on the four elements specified in the House committee report. The analysts did this by comparing the House committee report's elements to DOD's report to determine whether the report addressed each of the four elements. We also interviewed officials from DOD's Corrosion Office and other officials to obtain further information about the evaluation and to clarify various aspects of the report. This report assesses whether DOD addressed the House committee's reporting elements. DOD provided technical comments on the contents of this report.