GAO Report Critical of Military Supply Chain
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report detailing the Department of Defense’s supply chain management and labeling it a “high risk” area.
For Fiscal Year 2011, the most recently available data, the DOD spent more than $171 billion moving passengers and personal property from origin to consignee, and which they consistently had trouble tracking the identity, status and location of the cargo.
Some of the more common difficulties included late deliveries, incomplete delivery information and poor radio frequency identification. The report goes on to say that there is not one uniform “operating picture” for data that brings together the transportation information systems, lost or stolen cargo and poor tracking.
As the GAO notes, this has been a longstanding problem within the DOD dating back to asset-tracking problems in 1990, the first time it had been put on the GAO’s high risk list. The report concludes that while the DOD maintains the finest combat and support capabilities the world over, there remains significant challenges they must confront and overcome to continue caring for our warriors overseas.
