Allegations of Improper Procurements by Army Metrology and Calibration Center

GAO reviewed allegations by Julie Research Laboratories that operations at the U.S. Army Metrology and Calibration Center were inefficient and wasteful and that the Center's procurement practices were restrictive.

GAO found that: (1) the Army, contrary to what it told Julie Laboratory, has both laboratory and field requirements for automated calibration equipment; and (2) the Army's technical evaluations of Julie Laboratory's equipment appear to be based on some questionable conclusions and assumptions and largely ignore favorable impressions by Army representatives who saw the equipment in operation. The Army's assertion that Julie Laboratory's system is not unique or new to the industry nor state of the art is inconsistent with reports from system owners. Neither Julie Laboratory nor the Army performed operational testing of the system in a mobile van. GAO could not verify the Army's or Julie Laboratory's cost analyses because both used estimated workload data and other unsupported assumptions. The Departments of Defense and the Army need to reexamine the field Army requirements for calibration equipment and need to test various equipment in the operating environment.

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: No director on record Team: No team on record Phone: No phone on record