Retention of Unneeded Government-Owned Special Tooling by Contractors Causes Unnecessary Costs

Gao ID: PLRD-82-6 October 7, 1981

GAO reviewed the management of Government-owned special tooling, which includes such things as jigs, dies, fixtures, and other equipment whose use is limited to the production of a particular item, in the possession of selected Air Force and Navy aircraft production contractors.

GAO found that the Department of Defense (DOD) is incurring unnecessary costs because contractors are being allowed to retain unneeded tooling. Aircraft production contractors are storing and controlling hundreds of millions of dollars of Government-owned special tooling. For contracts relating to five out-of-production aircraft reviewed, GAO estimated that contractors are incurring costs of about $800,000 a year for the storage and control of unneeded tooling. A substantial portion of these costs is being paid by DOD. The Air Force and Navy have more than 280 contracts or agreements under which contractors are holding special tooling.

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.

Director: Henry W. Connor Team: General Accounting Office: Procurement, Logistics, and Readiness Division Phone: (202) 275-4141


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