Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Navy's aircraft engine repair program to determine whether: (1) charges for engine repairs were supportable and reasonable; and (2) opportunities existed for reducing labor and materiel costs.
GAO found that: (1) in 1989, naval aviation depots performed depot-level maintenance on over 2,200 engines, and generated revenues of about $243 million; (2) the depots charged their customers $101 million more for labor and materiel during fiscal years 1987, 1988, and 1989 than was justified by actual expenditures; and (3) the Navy did not provide sufficient management review and controls to ensure that engine repair prices were reasonable in view of actual labor and materiel expenditures. GAO also found that the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) did not: (1) ensure that the depots were complying with existing guidance to coordinate when developing labor estimates for engine models repaired by multiple depots; (2) follow up on past depot study recommendations for greater consistency in the repair of dual-sited engines; and (3) ensure that significant labor variances for common repair tasks were analyzed with a goal of sharing more efficient repair processes.
