Defense Inventory

When the military no longer needs aircraft parts, it turns them over to the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which manages the Defense Department's (DOD) disposal process. DLA has the option of selling the parts to the public or destroying them and selling them as scrap. If for some reason the military later decides that it needs parts still in the disposal process, it can request their return. This report discusses whether (1) DOD destroyed usable aircraft parts during the disposal process that did not have military technology and flight safety implications and (2) the military has recalled aircraft parts from the disposal process to preclude unnecessary purchases or repairs.

GAO noted that: (1) management of the aircraft parts disposal process can be improved; (2) DOD destroyed some usable aircraft parts and sold them as scrap; (3) these parts were in new or repairable condition and did not have military technology or flight safety implications; (4) the parts could possibly have been sold intact at higher than scrap prices; (5) this situation occurred for several reasons; (6) for example, disposal offices destroyed parts because the demilitarization codes the military services had assigned to the parts were inaccurate; (7) the codes indicated the parts contained military technology when they did not; (8) GAO work showed that the Oklahoma City disposal office destroyed 62 of 71 sample items, even though they did not have technology implications, because the assigned codes required their destruction; (9) personnel responsible for assigning and reviewing the codes had not been sufficiently trained and guidance was not adequate; (10) in addition, policies and practices designed to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized release of parts with military technology and flight safety implications did not distinguish between parts with or without such implications; (11) parts without military technology and flight safety concerns were destroyed along with parts that had these characteristics; (12) GAO work also showed that DOD could have purchased or repaired fewer aircraft parts if it would have recalled the needed parts from the disposal process; (13) for example, the Army could have reduced current and planned purchases by about $200,000 by using Cobra helicopter parts scheduled for destruction; (14) DOD regulations require the military services to know which parts they have placed in the disposal process; (15) however, interface problems between service and disposal office computer systems precluded the services from knowing what parts were at the disposal offices; (16) the military services had not instituted alternative ways to obtain this information on a routine basis; (17) problems with the disposal process are likely not unique to the three disposal yards GAO visited because DOD, military service, and Defense Logistics Agency policies and procedures generally apply to activities being performed at all locations; and (18) GAO past reviews and DOD internal studies have identified similar problems at these and other locations over the past 10 years or earlier.

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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