DoD has improved its strategic management plan by including additional strategic planning elements that were lacking from previous plans but the fiscal 2012-2013 plan is missing key information that would make it more useful for DoD decision makers as a guide for implementing business transformation efforts and for measuring progress, GAO has said.
It said improvements in the SMP include links between its business goals and DoD-wide goals, as well as milestone or target data but the SMP does not fully describe the specific challenges the goals are intended to address and what the root causes of those challenges are.
For example, the SMP states that the goal on strengthening DoD’s acquisition processes is aimed at obtaining greater efficiency and productivity in defense spending, but the accompanying narrative does not describe what is causing acquisition-related cost growth and how the goal’s initiatives may address those causes, according to GAO-13-267.
It said the plan also lacks sufficient context for why business goals and strategies were chosen or changed from prior plans, such as whether sufficient progress had been made to warrant their removal.
GAO called on DoD to add information to its SMP, such as a description of key challenges and context for why goals were chosen, and recommended that the department further define its performance management approach.
DoD stated that it would add information to the SMP as appropriate, and continue to improve and institutionalize DBC operations.
