DOD Inventory

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the weaknesses in the Army's internal controls over the Blue Grass Army Depot's category I rockets.

GAO noted that: (1) based on information about the causes of the discrepancies identified at the Blue Grass Army Depot, GAO identified the following internal controls weaknesses that resulted in a loss of accountability and control over the category I rockets: (a) serial number control of the items was lost at the time of shipment from the contractor because the serial numbers listed on the receiving reports that accompanied each shipment did not correspond to the actual items and quantities in that shipment; (b) rejected transactions were not promptly reviewed and corrected; (c) accountability and visibility were lost for items being transferred between Army activities at the depot because depot staff did not follow procedures for establishing a suspense file in the Standard Depot System (SDS); (d) Blue Grass Army Depot officials acknowledged that depot personnel needed more training in control procedures and SDS capabilities; (e) not all of the items accepted from the contractor were promptly recorded in the Commodity Command Standard System, which item managers use as an inventory and accounting system; (f) although the Industrial Operations Command's item manager followed up with the Armament, Research, Development, and Engineering Center's project manager, the item manager did not contact the depot to verify receipt of the October shipment that was not entered into SDS; and (g) differences in the rocket and launcher units' unit price had not been detected; (2) these control weaknesses indicate that the depot's inventory business processes for these sensitive items do not fully comply with federal accounting and systems requirements; (3) these weaknesses involve inventory systems that are used throughout the Army Materiel Command as well as business processes that are likely to be in place to manage other sensitive items throughout the command; and (4) therefore, GAO is concerned that the control weaknesses it identified may not be limited to the Blue Grass Depot.

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: Gregory D. Kutz Team: Government Accountability Office: Financial Management and Assurance Phone: (202) 512-9505