Defense Management

Impediments Jeopardize Logistics Corporate Information Management Gao ID: NSIAD-95-28 October 21, 1994

In 1992, the Defense Department (DOD) projected that its Corporate Information Management (CIM) initiative would help it to save $36 billion by fiscal year 1997. According to the Joint Logistics Systems Center, which was created to help achieve CIM goals, as much as $28 billion would be saved by improving DOD's logistics functions. Today, however, DOD is neither projecting nor tracking CIM savings. DOD officials acknowledge that the CIM initiative will be difficult to implement, and it may be years before most of the savings materialize. As part of GAO's review of the CIM initiative, this report focuses on the DOD logistics function of materiel management. GAO discusses (1) improvements made to business processes and supporting information systems and (2) impediments to achieving CIM results.

GAO found that: (1) CIM has had little effect on improving DOD materiel management and depot maintenance business practices; (2) DOD reengineering efforts have been delayed because the Joint Logistics Systems Center (JLSC) has been focusing on selecting standard logistics information systems that it believes are necessary in the reengineering process; (3) DOD believes that improving migration systems will generate quick cost savings that are needed to offset budget reductions; (4) the mandated 3-year milestone for implementing the migration systems may not allow enough time to ensure that the systems meet the services' and the Defense Logistics Agency's operational requirements; (5) JLSC has selected some migration systems, begun preliminary work on improving business processes, and reduced budget requests for redundant migration systems development projects; (6) impediments to CIM implementation include the reluctance of some DOD managers to accept CIM, DOD failure to integrate its CIM efforts, and confusing DOD guidance on CIM management authority; and (7) DOD has developed a strategic plan for improving business operations and clarifying authority over systems development, and a mechanism to handle cross-functional issues.

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.

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