The plan also points out that streamlining to a leaner logistics system can be achieved through greater integration of business and production processes but that performance of logistics processes must be continually assessed to identify opportunities for improvement through the adoption of new initiatives. According to DOD’s plan, its overall goals are to (1) reduce logistics cycle times, (2) develop a seamless logistics system, and (3) streamline the logistics infrastructure. The plan also sets forth the objectives and strategies for addressing these goals. The strategies are to help accomplish the plan’s goals and, as a result, “achieving world-class capabilities, while reducing the cost of DOD’s logistics system.”

	DOD Has Opportunities to Enhance Implementation of the Plan’s Goals

DOD reported that it has made progress in achieving all three of its goals. DOD can further improve its planning process by (1) linking its priority strategies to resources, (2) better linking the services’ and DLA’s plans to its logistics strategic plan, and (3) identifying interim approaches when milestones of a priority strategy have been extended. The Army’s and the Air Force’s logistics plans have evolved over the last several years to better reflect DOD’s goals and objectives.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) logistics strategic plan to identify opportunities for increasing the likelihood of implementing the plan's goals and objectives successfully.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) DOD's plan gives direction to improvements that are needed to reduce the costs of its logistics system (i.e., reducing logistics cycle times, developing a seamless logistics system, and streamlining the logistics infrastructure) and lays out specific objectives and strategies to produce these improvements; (2) DOD could build on its plan and increase the likelihood of implementing its goals and objectives successfully, as well as be better prepared for implementing the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, if the plan: (a) linked its action plans to resources so that both DOD managers and Congress can make more informed decisions on the value and priority of logistics system improvements; (b) better linked the services' and the Defense Logistics Agency's (DLA) plans to DOD's plan; and (c) identified interim approaches that can be developed and implemented when milestones of a priority strategy, aimed at achieving the plan's overall goals and objectives, have been extended; and (3) DOD's success in bringing these elements together hinges on its top-level managers' continued and visible support of efforts to remove institutional cultural barriers.