Defense Inventory

GAO summarized its work on continuing problems with the Department of Defense's (DOD) inventory management system.

GAO found that DOD: (1) inventories grew 138 percent between 1980 and 1988, increasing from $43 billion to $103 billion; (2) continued to use multiple inventory levels, causing duplications of stock; (3) improved its policies and procedures for identifying inventory inaccuracies, but was not routinely implementing those policies; (4) needed to establish minimum security standards to protect inventories from theft; (5) had still not established a system for monitoring government materiel issued to defense contractors; (6) continued to generate excessive inventories through premature and unnecessary spare parts purchases; (7) faced other recurring inventory management problems, including deficiencies in shipment controls, supply item cataloging, procurement practices, excess stock use, warehouse space, and automated systems; and (8) required top management involvement in efforts to reduce its inventories.