Army Acquisition Controls

Materiel Release Process Needs to Be Strengthened Gao ID: NSIAD-91-184 May 23, 1991

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the Army's internal controls for ensuring that newly procured equipment is ready for delivery to and use by field units.

GAO found that: (1) review boards were neither sufficiently independent of the procuring offices nor sufficiently representative of the end users to meet sound internal control standards; (2) the current process allowed for the conditional release of deficient systems to field units, provided there was a corrective action plan to meet field users' requirements and a justified urgency for receiving the equipment, but officials have failed to comply with those conditions; (3) in 49 of 81 actions reviewed, systems users did not justify their urgent need for the system; (4) the Army's materiel release process was not separate from such key duties as system development; and (5) the Army never corrected some systems' deficiencies.

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: Team: Phone:


The Justia Government Accountability Office site republishes public reports retrieved from the U.S. GAO These reports should not be considered official, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Justia.