Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the: (1) validity of the fiscal year (FY) 1990 depot maintenance requirements and backlogs that the Army reported to Congress; and (2) Army's depot maintenance requirements determination process.
GAO found that: (1) the Army's backlog for FY 1990 decreased by $423.2 million when the Army recalculated the backlog in its FY 1991 budget submission; (2) the Army had been adding prior-year backlogs to current-year requirements to arrive at a total depot repair requirement for each budget year; (3) the Army could not have foreseen changes in its requirements because they stemmed from factors outside of its control, such as decreases in anticipated asset usage or increased equipment reliability; (4) Army depot maintenance requirements that occurred after it prepared initial budget estimates were not reflected in the budget; and (5) the Army is planning to develop a methodology for determining what portion of the prior-year backlog will be included as a current-year requirement and will discontinue the practice of adding prior-year backlogs to current-year requirements.
