Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the San Antonio Air Logistics Center's purchase of C-5 crash damage repair kits.
GAO found that the: (1) Air Force used data from three C-5A accidents to determine crash damage kit requirements, but those data were insufficient to accurately project the number, timing, and severity of future accidents; (2) Air Force did not make an economic analysis of the validity of the data used to establish kit requirements; (3) Air Force was developing a formal policy on crash damage kits; (4) Air Force attempted to buy parts through a tie-in to the C-5B production line in order to provide parts at about 50 percent of future costs, but delays in ordering the kits prevented it from fully achieving a tie-in; (5) contractor's proposed prices were substantially higher than those the Air Force paid for the same parts under the C-5B production contract, and did not recognize some transfers from excess stock; and (6) kits contained many small parts that were not structural parts with long lead times.
