Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) the Army's unique accelerated acquisition strategy for the Sergeant York weapon and its suitability for use in future programs; (2) the protection against cost growth offered in the warranty contract's provision, particularly regarding technical performance problems; and (3) the weapon's achievements in specific areas during testing.
The accelerated strategy's objective was to field the weapon as quickly as possible with a substantial cost savings. The Army scheduled less pre-production testing than normal to accelerate deployment, resulting in a lack of critical information about shortcomings in the weapon's ability to perform under battlefield conditions. In addition, surveillance over the weapon's early production was limited. The Army successfully controlled costs until contract termination, which suggests that the use of the fixed-price development contract and the three annual fixed-price production contract options were cost-effective. The contract's warranty provisions provided protection against cost increases emanating from defects in the design, component integration, materials, or workmanship. However, the fixed-price options did have a drawback because they put pressure on decisionmakers to proceed with production on schedule, despite technical difficulties, in order to take advantage of the favorable prices. Tight schedules and limited operational testing left the Army few opportunities to resolve the difficulties before committing to major production. GAO believes that the Army should continue trying to reduce the time it takes to develop and field new weapons, as long as performance is not adversely affected.
