Defense Transportation

GAO reported in 1992 that the policies governing the use of military aircraft were too broad and vague to have much impact on the use of the 89th Airlift Wing by government officials. (See GAO/NSIAD-92-133.) Moreover, at that time, the use of aircraft was free of charge to all but a few users, and no one independently verified compliance with policies. This follow-up report finds that the Office of Management and Budget, the Defense Department (DOD), and the White House have addressed GAO's earlier recommendations for strengthening the management and use of the 89th Airlift Wing. Specifically, they have defined key terms, spelled out circumstances under which reimbursements are due, and required record-keeping. Requests to DOD for use of the wing generally complied with application policies on justification for using the 89th Airlift Wing. However, DOD acknowledged that agency reimbursements for wing missions have generally not been collected for two years and, in some cases, for as long as six years. Also, reimbursements for nonofficial travel sometimes were credited to the wrong accounts or the collection of reimbursements could not be verified.

GAO noted that: (1) the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Defense (DOD), and the White House addressed GAO's recommendations in policy revisions made since 1992, thus strengthening the management and use of the 89th Airlift Wing by defining key terms, specifying circumstances under which reimbursements are due, and requiring certain record-keeping measures; (2) requests to DOD for use of the wing generally complied with applicable policies on justifications for using the 89th Airlift Wing; (3) however, DOD acknowledged that agency reimbursements for wing missions have generally not been collected for 2 years and in some cases for as long as 6 years; (4) also, reimbursements for nonofficial travel in some cases were credited to the wrong accounts or the collection of the reimbursements could not be verified; and (5) although in GAO's 1992 report GAO noted problems with reimbursement processes, instructions to collect and account for them are still lacking.

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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