Review of Navy's Requirements To Buy Contractor Services To Maintain, Support, and Test the C-12 Aircraft

The Navy's practices for procuring contractor tests and evaluations, data and publications, and logistics support of the C-12 aircraft were reviewed. Although the Navy has developed detailed requirements to be followed by the contractor in providing logistics support, the other two services are obtaining such support on the basis of performance specifications.

The Navy's plan appears to be significantly more costly than those of the other services although no cost breakdowns were available. Under the Army and the Air Force contracts, the contractor is responsible for providing all of the maintenance and supply support needed to sustain specified monthly flying hours at an 80 percent operational readiness rate. The contractor has actually been achieving over a 90 percent readiness rate. The Navy, on the other hand, has imposed a series of detailed requirements on the contractor. Navy officials have emphasized that their added requirements were made in the interest of safety and were based on their previous experience in logistics support contracts for other aircraft. However, the experience the Army and the Air Force gained in using the aircraft for the last several years does not seem to support the Navy's argument. Therefore, the Navy may be overreacting in its maintenance requirements for the C-12 aircraft.

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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