Summary: GAO discussed Department of Defense (DOD) initiatives for improving its management of weapon system acquisition programs. Over the next 5 years, DOD is planning the expenditure of $1.5 trillion to acquire new systems, to update old systems, and to enhance military readiness. Congress has expressed some concern regarding accountability for these expenditures and desires to make sure that these resources are invested and managed properly. In April of 1981, DOD announced the adoption of a number of specific management initiatives directed toward reducing costs, stabilizing acquisition programs, increasing support and readiness, shortening acquisition time, and improving the acquisition milestone progress review process. All the initiatives had merit, and GAO concluded that several were key to improving weapon system acquisition procedures. Among the most important were: (1) better control over the cost growth of a program, with more complete documentation of cost estimates and more realistic inflation rates in developing cost estimates; (2) stabilizing acquisition programs which are unstable due to various factors such as funding and unrealistic cost estimates; and (3) improving weapon system support and readiness programs.
