Summary: The Defense Department (DOD) has had problems accounting for excess property being shipped to disposal and has developed comprehensive procedures to track the property. However, the procedures are not working well and property remains vulnerable to loss and theft. DOD reports that property valued at $2.7 billion was shipped to disposal during 1998 but was not recorded as received by disposal offices. A GAO analysis found that more than one-half of the dollar value of property that was reported as not received involved items that require special handling, such as communications equipment, aircraft components, and gun parts. DOD does not consider all property reported as not received as lost or stolen. DOD officials said that, in many cases, the property in question is received and disposed of properly but is incorrectly reported as not received because the systems used to track the property are unreliable. DOD, however, does not know the status of property being shipped to disposal. The reports used to manage and track property are inaccurate because of computer system programming and data input errors. Also, control procedures are not being followed because personnel either are not fully aware of the procedures or do not always understand them. GAO recommends that the military take steps to correct information system errors and train staff on control procedures.
