Summary: GAO reviewed the Army's policies and procedures for computing and using maintenance expenditure limits (MEL), to determine whether: (1) the Army Materiel Command (AMC) was applying MEL effectively in their repair-or-buy decisions; and (2) AMC was sufficiently overseeing the commands' use of MEL.
GAO found that: (1) the three buying commands reviewed did not properly follow or consistently apply the AMC policies and procedures for computing MEL; (2) Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) had not written implementing regulations or taken any other action to implement the AMC fiscal year (FY) 1987 MEL policy, because the Command was unaware that AMC had officially adopted the regulation; (3) for FY 1991, MEL computations at the Aviation Systems Command (AVSCOM) and the Tank-Automotive Command (TACOM) were untimely, since they were computed after repair programs had already been planned; (4) the three buying commands did not follow the required procedures regarding the use of waivers and exemptions; (5) because of confusion over which of the different procurement prices available should have been used in making the computation, AVSCOM inaccurately computed MEL; (6) AMC did not properly monitor the buying commands' implementation of the current regulation to ensure that the commands made cost-effective repair-or-buy decisions; and (7) no reviews had been made of the AMC revised MEL policy since it was issued in FY 1987.
