Comparison of Air Force and Navy Aircraft Engine Parts Reparability Coding

A survey was undertaken of depot overhaul and repair procedures for aircraft engines and their associated costs. In the survey, GAO noted that some aircraft engine parts, which both the Air Force and the Navy repair, are coded as reparable by the Air Force and nonreparable by the Navy. This is possible since both the Air Force and Navy consider in their coding of engine parts the purchase price, cost to repair, and the number of parts in each inventory.

In its review, GAO found that all the potential savings to be gained from repairing a part are not being realized. An estimated 700 out of a total of 1,300 parts, being repaired by each service and coded differently, are parts which could be condemned at maintenance levels below the depot level. The potential savings from their repair could total $1.3 million. Additionally, GAO found that the difference in coding hinders the Department of Defense's efforts to integrate the management of parts used by two or more services. According to Air Force officials, a part repaired by two services will never be integrated beyond Phase I if each service codes the parts differently. Parts coded reparable and nonreparable are funded separately and have different requirement computations for new purchases. These differences are such that it is impractical for one service to effectively manage the parts of another service unless both code the parts he same.

Recommendations

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