Improvements in the Data Submitted to the Congress To Justify Transportation Funding Requirements

GAO reviewed data which the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force submit to Congress each year to justify their budget estimates for operation and maintenance transportation funding.

GAO found that the data the military services provided to Congress: (1) lack uniformity in interservice descriptions of requirement categories and in how those categories are quantified; (2) give an incomplete picture of the total number of transportation units for which funding is being requested because all requirements are not shown in common terms; and (3) omit most explanations as to why the requested funding level is needed. In the opinion of GAO, the data submitted to Congress make it difficult to assess the reasonableness of the funding levels the military services are requesting. To facilitate the review of each service's request, GAO believes that Department of Defense, as a matter of policy, should ensure that each service uses the same terms to describe its transportation program and the same types of units for like categories of detail. GAO also believes that the budget detail categories ought to be related to reasons for the funding request. Requirements should be linked to a flying hour program, a force modernization objective, a type of procurement, a post exchange sales of units, or similar program, and be identified both in terms of units and dollars needed.

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