The loss of organizational clothing and individual equipment, or OCIE, is costing the Army millions each year, the DoD inspector general has said.
It said the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics has not established a working group or developed and implemented procedures to recover OCIE from civilians and contractor employees, as was recommended in an earlier IG report in 2010.
Instead, the office of the assistant secretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness decided that the Army would serve as the lead agent and develop and implement corrective actions, according to the IG. However, it said neither the discussion nor the decision to delegate the responsibility to the Army was documented, and defense procurement and acquisition policy officials did not review contracting policies for necessary changes (they say they were waiting for results from the working group).
While the central issue facilities at two bases implemented some controls, the IG said those efforts resulted in increased costs to replace unreturned OCIE, as well as potential loss of funds from uncollected debt. The IG identified about $20 million in unreturned OCIE issued to civilian and contractor employees at the two bases from over 2006 to 2012.
Management said it would implement corrective actions to address the earlier recommendations to set up the working group and put procedures in place to recover OCIE.
