Summary: Military logistics is an important and expensive job. The Defense Department (DOD) will spend about $84 billion out of its $280-billion budget on logistics support this year. Even so, failing equipment and parts shortages continue to be a problem. DOD has taken steps to reengineer its logistics process, but many aspects of its overall plan are incomplete, raising questions about whether or when the goals of better service and lower costs will be realized. It is too early to assess the impact that reengineering logistics support will have on combat forces. Officials representing combat forces have raised several concerns, including the effect of having large numbers of private contractors on or near the battlefield, the ability of contractors to meet the surge requirements, and the effects of contracting on the number of jobs available to military personnel returning to the United States from overseas duty. Several factors, if not addressed, could limit DOD's ability to achieve its reengineering goals. These factors include the impact that use of sole-source, long-term contracts would have on anticipated reengineering savings and the effects that existing laws and policies would have on the implementation of reengineering initiatives. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Defense Logistics: Integrated Plans and Improved Implementation Needed to Enhance Engineering Efforts, by David R. Warren, Director of Defense Management Issues, before the Subcommittee on Military Readiness, House Committee on Armed Services. GAO/T-NSIAD-00-206, June 27 (nine pages).
