Industrial Base

In response to a requirement by the House Committee on Armed Services, GAO reviewed the ability of the industrial base to meet wartime requirements for individual rations called Meal Ready-to-Eat (MRE) and a group ration called Tray pack that contains multiple servings of food. GAO's investigation showed that the current MRE and Tray pack suppliers have surge capacity that substantially exceeds current wartime requirements. If the MRE contractors were to produce rations at maximum capacity for 150 days, not only would all the required MREs be procured, but the MRE inventory could be more than doubled. Similarly, the Tray pack inventory could be increased by more than 20 percent.

GAO found that: (1) the current MRE and tray pack suppliers have surge capacity that substantially exceeds current wartime requirements; (2) if MRE contractors produced rations at maximum capacity for 150 days, the MRE inventory would more than double and the tray pack inventory would increase by more than 20 percent; (3) the current DOD wartime requirement of 70 million MRE is more realistic than the 245 million MRE ordered to support Operation Desert Storm; (4) the services over-ordered MRE during Desert Storm because the war only lasted for several weeks rather than 1 year; (5) there are currently 56 million MRE available for DOD contingencies; and (6) DOD is conducting a market survey to determine if contract options should be exercised for fiscal years 1995 and 1996.