Defense Inventory

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided a status report on the Navy's initiatives to address a number of in-transit inventory problems that GAO identified in previous reports.

GAO noted that: (1) the Commander, Naval Supply Systems Command, has communicated the importance of the proper and timely posting of receipts and the prompt and accurate response to follow-up requests; (2) the Supply Systems Command's Integrated Process Team has designed an initiative known as "Brute Force" to provide temporary improvements in the manual reconciliation process until automated programming changes can be made; (3) according to the Navy's Office of Financial Operations, the Naval Inventory Control Point reviewed selected aspects of shipped inventory during its fiscal year (FY) 1999 management control review pursuant to the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act of 1982; (4) the Naval Supply Systems Command established goals at the Naval Inventory Control Point to reduce FY 2000 write-offs and gain better control of classified, sensitive, and high-dollar value warehoused material; (5) progress toward attaining these goals is assessed monthly by the Commander, Naval Supply Systems Command; (6) the Naval Supply Systems Command also added in-transit metrics to its Corporate Information System as part of its efforts to reengineer the Navy's in-transit process; (7) according to Navy officials, the Corporate Information System is available on the Web and provides users with data analysis tools, enabling them to quickly identify problem areas or activities so that focused corrective actions can be taken; (8) the metrics in place provide various levels of aggregation dependent on user menu selection; (9) according to Supply Systems Command officials, the Integrated Process Team briefs the Commander, Vice Commander, and Executive Director of the Naval Supply Systems Command about the metrics on a monthly basis; and (10) these briefings address timely issues using the implemented metrics, and the metrics are continuously reviewed and revised as necessary to ensure that the proper management attention is being paid to the in-transit process.