Management of the Navy's Restricted and Technical Availability Program, Western Pacific

GAO reviewed selected aspects of the management of the Navy's ship repair and depot maintenance program in the Western Pacific.

GAO found that, although the Navy has taken many actions to improve this program's management, further action could be taken. Alternatives should be considered in scheduling ships into the repair facilities to enhance workload stability and minimize overtime and contracted services. In addition, GAO found that the timeliness and accuracy of ship repair work packages needs improvement. No formal actions have been considered which would hold a ship commander fully accountable for consistently submitting late or inaccurate work packages. Finally, the current ship repair facilities' maintenance management process needs improvement. Management must exercise greater discipline in the system's operations to ensure control over program costs.