Summary: In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Army, Air Force, and Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) procurements of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing equipment (CAD/CAM) to: (1) determine whether the agencies properly planned and coordinated the procurements; and (2) assess the Office of the Secretary of Defense's (OSD) efforts to coordinate and consolidate CAD/CAM procurements.
GAO found that: (1) although the three agencies used CAD/CAM and planned to buy more, none of their procurements was as large as the Navy's estimated $500 million in indefinite-quantity contracts; (2) the Army had 12 ongoing procurements totalling about $120 million, including one requirements contract with a $101-million procurement authority delegation; (3) the Air Force was in the early stages of defining its long-term CAD/CAM requirements and had ongoing procurements totalling about $11 million; (4) DLA was a smaller user, with past and planned purchases totalling about $500,000; (5) OSD encouraged the agencies to use the Navy's planned CAD/CAM contracts to satisfy their respective needs; and (6) OSD did not have any further role in the procurements unless the procurement cost total exceeded $100 million, or $25 million in a single year.
