Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Navy's Ship Manpower Document (SMD) program, which the Navy uses to estimate work-force requirements for its fleet.
GAO found that: (1) the requirements that the Navy has established through the SMD program are questionable because the methodology it uses in the program is not rigorous enough; and (2) the net effect of the lack of rigor is that the Navy has overestimated many of its manpower requirements and underestimated others. GAO also found that the Navy: (1) does not maintain adequate documentation to support its watch station (WS) requirements estimates; (2) does not base WS requirements estimates on rigorous onboard analyses of ship operating procedures; (3) has not made adequate progress in developing new standards for own unit support (OUS) requirements; (4) has no reliable historical database of preventive maintenance (PM) and corrective maintenance (CM) accomplished on its ships; (5) uses invalid ratios based on PM to estimate CM requirements; (6) adds allowances for preparation and nonproductivity to its PM and CM estimates; and (7) does not use the same assumptions for its computer simulation and its conceptual model for facilities maintenance (FM). In addition, GAO found that: (1) the SMD computer model does not reflect basic assumptions regarding work performed in port and the average work week for Navy personnel; (2) the SMD computer model does not account for maintenance work that watch personnel perform; (3) the Navy does not adequately document the SMD system or changes to it; and (4) the Navy has neither adequately monitored nor controlled the program, nor ensured effective communication among program participants.
