Army Officials and Field Personnel Do Not Have Ready Access to Needed MWO Information

The Army does not currently maintain centralized information to track the status of equipment modifications. Army Headquarters Officials Do Not Have Information They Need to Properly Oversee the Program

Army headquarters and Army Materiel Command officials responsible for formulating the MWO program budget and for ensuring that upgraded and enhanced equipment is available to satisfy the Army’s force structure have limited information about what MWO funds have been spent, what equipment has been modified, and what equipment still needs to be modified. The lack of timely information on equipment configuration could have potential adverse effects. This occurs because program sponsors do not always order initial spare parts for the supply system when they procure MWO kits. In addition, program sponsors and supply system personnel do not always follow policies and procedures to ensure that supply system records are updated to show the addition of new items and the deletion of replaced items. When the supply system records are inaccurate, the Army’s budget may not reflect accurate requirements for new spare parts to repair and maintain modified weapon systems and equipment. Field Maintenance Personnel Experience Problems in Implementing the MWO Program

Field maintenance personnel cited numerous problems in modifying their weapon systems and equipment. For example, they stated that (1) the completion of multiple MWOs on the same piece of equipment is not always coordinated, or not all equipment is modified at the same time; (2) they do not always receive adequate notice of MWOs; and (3) modified equipment does not always work together with other equipment once the modification takes place. Army headquarters and Army Materiel Command officials believe these problems are also occurring because of their loss of oversight and control over the program and the inconsistent implementation of policies and procedures by program sponsors, especially in negotiating fielding plans with the affected organizations. As a result, the program was disrupted, and additional labor hours were expended, according to a National Guard official. Maintenance personnel also noted that inefficiencies had resulted when not all modifications were done at the same time. As a result, field maintainers have experienced difficulty in obtaining spare parts and current technical information and have experienced inefficiencies in getting their weapon systems and equipment modified. Recommendations

In considering the upcoming results of the MWO process action team, we recommend that the Secretary of the Army direct actions necessary to provide managers at all levels ready access to the information they need to oversee, manage, and implement the MWO program and to ensure compliance with Army policies and procedures; clarify regulations to ensure that program sponsors and supply system personnel provide proper logistical support for modified equipment, including (1) ordering appropriate initial spare parts when MWO kits are ordered, (2) updating technical information and providing it to units when MWO kits are installed, and (3) properly phasing out old spare parts and adding new items to its supply system; and establish an effective mechanism for program sponsors to coordinate and schedule their MWOs, among themselves and their customers, to reduce the amount of manpower and to minimize the reportable mission time required to complete the MWOs.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Army's management of its modification work order (MWO) program, focusing on: (1) the availability of information needed by Army headquarters and field personnel to effectively oversee and manage the MWO program; (2) the availability of spare parts needed by personnel in the field to maintain modified equipment; and (3) field personnel's experiences in implementing the MWO program.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) Army headquarters officials and Army Materiel Command officials no longer have the information they need to effectively oversee and manage the MWO program; (2) this occurred because the centralized database to track installation and funding was discontinued; control over modification installation funding was transferred from the headquarters level to individual program sponsors; and the authority over configuration control boards, which ensured the completeness and compliance of MWOs with policy, was transferred to individual program sponsors; (3) as a result, Army officials do not have an adequate overview of the status of equipment modifications across the force, funding requirements, logistical support requirements, and information needed for deployment decisions; (4) the lack of information is also a problem at field units; (5) maintenance personnel have not always known which modifications should have been made to equipment or which modifications have actually been made; (6) in addition, maintainers of equipment have not always received the technical information they need in a timely manner to properly maintain modified equipment; (7) maintenance personnel in the field have had difficulty obtaining spare parts to maintain modified equipment because program sponsors frequently had not ordered initial spare parts when they acquired modification kits; (8) Army officials believe these problems occurred because they lost oversight and control of the program and policies and procedures were not being consistently applied by the individual program sponsors; (9) because spare parts have often not been available, maintenance personnel have made additional efforts to maintain modified equipment; (10) supply system personnel have not always followed policies and procedures to ensure that supply system records were updated to show the addition of new spare parts and the deletion of replaced spare parts; (11) as a result, the Army's budget for spare parts may not reflect accurate requirements for new components to repair and maintain modified weapon systems and equipment; (12) maintenance personnel in the field have also experienced a variety of problems in implementing MWOs; (13) maintainers have not always received adequate notice of pending modifications, and training schedules and equipment maintenance have been adversely affected; (14) GAO was told that various items of equipment did not always work together once some modifications were made; and (15) according to Army officials, these problems also occurred because of their loss of oversight and control.