Status of Efforts To Estimate and Budget for Army Weapon System Sustainment Costs

GAO reviewed the Army's efforts to improve the accuracy and use of sustainment cost estimates in weapon system budgeting.

GAO found that: (1) the Army did not have a good database to use as a basis in preparing budget estimates; (2) the Army collected costs by functions or organizational units rather than by individual weapon systems; (3) the Army still lacked a solid basis for budgeting sustainment costs because of the different results data collection efforts produced; and (4) the sustainment cost estimate prepared by the program manager did not agree with the analyst's estimate for the planning, programming, and budgeting process. GAO also found that: (1) historical cost data can be useful in making estimates on future systems; (2) the Army has developed a consolidated sustainment cost methodology to integrate into the budget process; (3) the Army has implemented resource management initiatives intended to make project office cost estimates and budget estimates consistent; (4) the project office is required to update cost estimates at least annually; and (5) a comparative analysis will be done of the cost estimate and the budget estimate for each major weapon system three times a year.