Summary: GAO commented on the Department of Defense's (DOD) ongoing efforts to acquire and test the Composite Health Care System (CHCS), focusing on the planned test schedule, estimated benefits, life-cycle costs, and current funding. GAO noted that: (1) DOD would not develop and deploy about 38 percent of CHCS software by the planned completion date; (2) DOD officials estimated that the software would provide about 87 percent of projected benefits and about 79 percent of the expected high-priority capabilities; (3) DOD reduced performance and evaluation time from 8 months to 4 to 6 months, which could increase risk; (4) DOD projected that CHCS would result in benefits of over $2 billion because of improved medical services, but it did not consider certain service restrictions; (5) DOD requested that Congress lift a ceiling of $1.1 billion for CHCS life-cycle costs; (6) the congressionally approved funding level was about $200 million less than DOD needed to fully deploy CHCS; and (7) the Army and the Navy reprogrammed CHCS funds to other areas.
