Defense Inventory: The Department Needs a Focused Effort to Overcome Critical Spare Parts Shortages.

General Accounting Office Reports & Testimony, July, 2003

GAO-03-707 June 27, 2003

The Department of Defense's (DOD) annual appropriation totals billions of dollars for spare parts. In addition, it has received supplemental funding totaling $1.5 billion since fiscal year 1999 to increase the availability of spare parts. However, DOD continues to experience critical spare parts shortages that impact military readiness. GAO examined whether (1) DOD's logistics strategic plan addresses the mitigation of critical spare parts shortages that adversely affect readiness, (2) DOD's logistics initiatives are likely to mitigate spare parts shortages that affect readiness, and (3) DOD has the ability to identify the effect of increased investments for spare parts on readiness.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense's (OSD)...