Largely repeating findings it made in 2014 and again in 2016, GAO has said that DoD still has shortcomings in creating and using an inventory of contractor services, an assessment required by Congress to help the department make more strategic workforce decisions and better align resources.
DoD obligated about $150 billion on contracted services such as IT support and maintenance of its facilities in 2016, a report said; the defense budget for 2017 modified prior requirements that the department annually collect data on contracted services and to compile and review an inventory of the functions performed by contractor personnel.
GAO found that the military departments “varied somewhat” in how they reported their contracted services, but said a larger issue is that they “generally have not developed plans to use the inventory for workforce and budget decisions, as statutorily required.”
Officials told the auditors that a main reason is that “by the time the inventory is available, the data reflected are often too outdated to inform strategic decisions.”
GAO added that in 2014 it found that “a lack of officials at the military departments who are accountable for integrating the use of the inventory leaves the department at continued risk of not complying with the legislative requirement to use the inventory to support management decisions. This issue persists, as the military departments have not made final designations for accountable officials responsible for developing plans and enforcement mechanisms to use the inventory.”
