The Air Force needs a fully developed management
framework to guide future total force efforts, the
Government Accountability Office has said.
It said those efforts are geared toward improving
future capabilities by further integrating active,
National Guard, and reserve components, but that
participants in the Air Force’s 20-year force
structure plan have different views on the extent
to which they were given a chance to provide input.
The Air Force has taken steps to identify new missions
for the Air National Guard and to try out ways to
integrate the active, Guard and reserve components
as part of its future force transformation, but it
has yet to fully develop a management framework to
guide its efforts or a plan to evaluate its progress,
according to GAO-06-232.
It said the Air Force’s new directorate, established
in March 2005 to guide the implementation of the
future total force concept, has taken steps to identify
new missions and implement new constructs to integrate
components.
The directorate has developed a strategic plan that it
says incorporates a results-oriented management framework,
but it had not been approved as of November 2005 and
there’s no requirement that it be used to guide implementation
efforts, according to the report.
It said the Air Force needs a comprehensive evaluation plan
to measure the results of its test initiatives.
It also said that by moving forward without such a framework
and evaluation plan, the USAF may be unable to successfully
transform culture, evaluate initiatives and program results,
determine the most cost effective mix of active and reserve
forces, and ensure that the implementation process is transparent.
