Military Clothing and Textiles Required for War Reserves Can Be Reduced

Department of Defense war reserve requirements for clothing and textile items were surveyed for fiscal year 1977, following the submission of lists by the Defense Supply Agency for all items to be procured if the 1977 appropriations were provided. The Senate Committee on Appropriations subsequently deleted all of the DSA's clothing and textile requirements.

The Defense Personnel Support Center is trying to reduce stocks of items for which there are commercial substitutes, but their efforts have not completely eliminated such items from existing stocks or prevented the entry of additional ones into reserve stocks. The Center underestimated the production capability of industry to meet mobilization needs. During fiscal year 1976, the Center authorized the military services to return, with full reimbursement, $28 million of excess items. The Center has only received $6 million of these items, and has not received feedback as to why items were not returned.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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