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Open Recommendations

National Defense Stockpile: Actions Needed to Improve DOD's Efforts to Prepare for Emergencies
GAO-24-106959
Sep 10, 2024
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6 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment identifies roles and defines responsibilities for relevant DOD entities to provide the necessary supply and demand information on the materials they consider strategic or critical to support DOD's biennial stockpile requirement reports. (Recommendation 1)
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When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure the Defense Logistics Agency documents the process for determining actions to address a material shortfall, such as in guidance or job aids. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment finalizes criteria to release stockpiled materials for use under Executive Order 14051. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure the Defense Logistics Agency reports the complete list of material shortfalls to Congress while continuing to highlight priority materials. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure the Defense Logistics Agency reports information on the risks of unmodeled critical materials to Congress. (Recommendation 5)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure the Defense Logistics Agency reports progress on prior recommendations made to address material shortfalls to Congress. (Recommendation 6)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Critical Materials: Action Needed to Implement Requirements That Reduce Supply Chain Risks
GAO-24-107176
Sep 10, 2024
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, as the Stockpile Manager, takes steps to implement the requirement to prevent sales of material from the National Defense Stockpile to China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia or third-party entities acting on their behalf when such sales are not in the national interest of the United States, including steps to consider buyers' affiliations with these nations. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Navy Readiness: Actions Needed to Improve Support for Sailor-Led Maintenance
GAO-24-106525
Sep 09, 2024
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7 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy should ensure that the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Personnel, Manpower, and Training updates Navy policy to require the Navy to periodically gather and report personnel data specific to sailor-led maintenance, such as comparing assigned personnel to the number of mustering personnel available for duty and tracking the quality of sailors' alignment across departments. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy should ensure that the Commander, Naval Education and Training Command, evaluates and optimizes the balance between classroom training and on-the-job training on maintenance skills for junior sailors as it implements Ready Relevant Learning. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy should ensure that policy is updated to include commanding officers as key stakeholders in updating maintenance cards to better reflect actual time expended in accomplishing sailor-led maintenance tasks in light of ship-specific conditions. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy, in collaboration with Naval Sea Systems Command, should ensure that maintenance cards are written at an appropriate level of detail to reflect specific conditions affecting the amount of time, number of personnel needed, and training necessary to conduct sailor-led maintenance. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy should direct the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics, in collaboration with Naval Supply Systems Command and Naval Sea Systems Command, to ensure that shipboard allowance lists are updated and accurate. (Recommendation 5)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy should ensure that the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics, in collaboration with Naval Sea Systems Command and Naval Supply Systems Command, clarifies guidance to specify how and when program offices must use readiness-based sparing. (Recommendation 6)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

IT Systems Annual Assessment: DOD Needs to Improve Performance Reporting and Development Planning [Reissued with revisions on Aug. 22, 2024]
GAO-23-106117
Aug 22, 2024
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Chief Information Officer to ensure that major IT business programs identify at least the minimum required amount of operational performance metrics, as appropriate, in the department's submission to the Federal IT Dashboard. (Recommendation 1)
Open
As of August 2023, the department indicated that it has taken steps to address our recommendation. The department stated that it had implemented an additional audit check to ensure operational performance metrics are provided for all major IT systems and reported to the Federal IT Dashboard, but that the checks did not work properly and it has since corrected them. The department stated that it estimates the data will be available in April 2024 as part of DOD's fiscal year 2025 submission to the Dashboard and we will continue to monitor the department's efforts to fully implement this recommendation through our annual reviews of selected DOD IT programs.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Chief Information Officer to ensure that major IT business programs develop capability implementation plans or other program plans that address conducting user training and deployment, as appropriate. (Recommendation 2)
Open
As of August 2023, the department indicated that it has taken steps to address our recommendation. The department stated that, as of January 2020, the Secretary of Defense provided direction to ensure that major IT business programs develop capability implementation plans or other program plans that address conducting user training and deployment, as appropriate. Specifically, in accordance with DOD directives and July 2014 and July 2018 Deputy Secretary of Defense memorandums, USD(A&S) issued guidance on the acquisition of business systems to include establishing policy for the use of the business capability acquisition cycle (BCAC) for business systems requirements and acquisition and documenting user training throughout. The department also noted that the requirement to develop capability implementation plans is codified within DODI 5000.75 and, as a defense business system progresses through the BCAC, they are required to mature their user training and deployment plans at each phase/authority to proceed decision point. The department added that, per DODI 5000.75, the milestone decision authority has the ability to review the user training and deployment plans prior to progressing into the capability support phase. We will continue to monitor the department's efforts to fully implement this recommendation as part of our annual review of selected DOD IT programs, with the next report planned for issuance in summer 2024.
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