Acquisition Reform

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the Department of Defense's (DOD) implementation of Defense Management Report (DMR) savings initiatives, focusing on: (1) the status of the initiatives; (2) the estimated savings of major initiatives; and (3) whether DOD reduced the number of acquisition personnel.

GAO found that: (1) DOD implemented a number of DMR initiatives, but the larger, more complex initiatives were in the planning stages; (2) DOD needed continued management support to fully implement the initiatives and DMR savings goals; (3) DOD combined some DMR initiatives with other budget reduction efforts; (4) $20.17 billion of $24.5 billion of reviewed estimated savings and at least half of the total estimated savings were based primarily on management decisions and the reliability of such estimates varied; (5) DOD included estimated savings in its budget estimates for fiscal years 1991 through 1995 and the President's fiscal year 1991 budget proposals already included a $2.3 billion reduction; (6) current budget negotiations and changes in the world arena would not delay implementation of DMR initiatives; (7) as of June 1990, DOD had not reduced its acquisition work force; and (8) an Army command planned to reduce its personnel by 8,600 and two Air Force commands planned to reduce their personnel by a total of 12,300.