Summary: GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) fiscal year (FY) 1998 budget request and prior years' appropriations for selected procurement and research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) programs, focusing on potential reductions in the FY 1998 budget request and potential rescissions to prior years' appropriations. GAO noted that this report summarizes and updates information it provided from April through June 1997, but does not reflect any adjustments that may have been taken by the Committees on Authorization and Appropriations during their reviews off the FY 1998 defense budget request. GAO has not acknowledged these Committees' actions because, in some cases, House and Senate actions have varied and conference actions are still pending.
GAO noted that: (1) GAO identified opportunities to reduce DOD's FY 1998 procurement and RDT&E requests by $772.6 million and to rescind about $608.5 million in procurement and RDT&E appropriations; (2) these reductions and rescissions can be made primarily because schedules slipped, requirements changed, and issues affecting program funding have emerged since the FY 1998 budget request was developed; (3) the potential rescissions include about $31.4 million in prior years' appropriations for which obligational authority will expire on September 30, 1997; (4) during the early portion of GAO's review, GAO identified $230 million available from prior years' appropriations that was subsequently rescinded in the FY 1997 Emergency Supplemental Act; and (5) these funds are excluded from the amounts shown in this letter.
