	DOD Has Made Limited Progress since June 2018 in Addressing Remaining Statutory Requirements and Is Reducing the Number of Cross-Functional Teams It Considers Responsive to Section 911

		DOD Has Addressed One Statutory Requirement since June 2018, but Has Not Addressed Five Remaining Requirements

DOD has addressed one additional statutory requirement of section 911  of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2017 since our June 2018 report. However,  DOD has still not addressed five other requirements, including (1) issuing  its organizational strategy, (2) issuing guidance on cross-functional  teams, (3) providing training on cross-functional teams for team members  and their supervisors, (4) providing training for presidential appointees,  and (5) taking actions to streamline the Office of the Secretary of  Defense, as shown in table 1. As described above, we have previously recommended that DOD take  actions to improve its implementation of the section 911 requirements  related to the organizational strategy, guidance, and training. As we have  reported before, addressing our recommendations and fully implementing  the remaining requirements would better position DOD to effectively  implement its cross-functional teams and advance a collaborative culture,  as required by the NDAA. DOD’s Enterprise Business Reform Is Largely Driven by Nine Cross- Functional Teams, but Progress Has Been Uneven

		Nine Cross-Functional Teams Are Key to DOD’s Enterprise Business Reform

The National Defense Business Operations Plan for Fiscal Years 2018- 2022 highlights nine cross-functional teams as key mechanisms for  implementing the plan’s strategic objective to improve and strengthen  business operations through a move to enterprise or shared services. As of September 2018, OCMO reported that the teams  were pursuing a total of 135 initiatives and that the number of initiatives  per team ranged from 2 to 38. For example, in June 2018, one team leader told us that the team did not  have sufficient funding to implement four initiatives. Our prior work  on efficiency initiatives has found that up-front investments may often be  required to realize long-term efficiencies and savings. In this regard,  OCMO officials told us that, as of September 2018, the nine teams had  planned investments of about $6.7 billion to implement their initiatives  from fiscal years 2018 through 2024. OCMO officials stated that this  amount is a projection from the teams, and DOD has not yet identified  sources for this funding. Leading practices for implementing effective cross-functional teams  highlight the importance of senior management providing teams with  access to resources. These leading practices also state that teams  should have well-defined team operations with established rules and  procedures. Without such a  process, OCMO and the reform teams may not be able to adequately  plan for and execute their initiatives. Conclusions

Section 911 of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2017 called for organizational  and management reforms to assist DOD in addressing challenges that  have hindered collaboration and integration across the department. Further, section 921 of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2019 requires DOD to  reform its enterprise business operations to increase the effectiveness  and efficiency of mission execution. OCMO has not established a  process for identifying and prioritizing available funding for the  development and implementation of the teams’ initiatives, which has  hampered the success of some of the enterprise reform efforts. Table 2 identifies our  three prior reports on DOD’s implementation of section 911 and the status  of the four recommendations from our February 2018 report. Appendix III: Overview of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Nine Cross-Functional Teams Implementing Business Reform Initiatives

The Deputy Secretary of Defense has established nine cross-functional  teams since October 2017 to implement reform initiatives intended to  improve the quality and productivity of the department’s business  operations, including moving toward more use of enterprise services.
Why GAO Did This Study

DOD continues to confront organizational challenges that hinder collaboration. To address these challenges, section 911 of the NDAA for FY 2017 directed the Secretary of Defense to issue an organizational strategy that identifies critical objectives that span multiple functional boundaries; establish cross-functional teams to support this strategy and provide related guidance and training; and take actions to streamline the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Further, section 921 of the NDAA for FY 2019 calls for the Secretary of Defense to reform the department's enterprise business operations.
The NDAAs for FY 2017 and 2019 also included provisions for GAO to assess DOD's actions in response to sections 911 and 921, respectively. This report assesses the extent to which DOD has made progress in (1) addressing the requirements of section 911, and (2) reforming the department's enterprise business operations under section 921. GAO reviewed documentation on DOD's implementation of sections 911 and 921; interviewed cross-functional team leaders, members, and other DOD officials; and compared DOD's implementation of its cross-functional teams to GAO's key practices.

What GAO Found

The Department of Defense (DOD) has implemented four statutory requirements in section 911 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, but has not addressed five requirements intended to support cross-functional teams and promote department-wide collaboration (see table).
For two of these requirements, DOD has missed the statutory deadline by more than a year. GAO previously recommended that DOD take actions to improve its implementation of section 911, and DOD reported it is doing so, such as revising its draft cross-functional team guidance to address statutory requirements. Fully implementing GAO's prior recommendations and the remaining statutory requirements would better position DOD to effectively implement its cross-functional teams and advance a collaborative culture, as required by the NDAA.
Nine cross-functional teams are driving DOD's enterprise business reform efforts under section 921 of the FY 2019 NDAA, but the teams' progress has been uneven. As of September 2018, DOD reported that these nine teams were pursuing a total of 135 business reform initiatives. However, 104 of these initiatives have not reached the implementation phase. A key challenge facing the teams is that some lack resources to fully implement their approved initiatives. For example, DOD officials stated that the department did not fulfill four of nine funding requests from the teams in fiscal year 2018 to implement their initiatives. As of September 2018, DOD officials estimated that the teams need about $6.7 billion to implement their initiatives from FYs 2018 through 2024, but DOD has not identified sources for this funding. GAO's prior work on efficiency initiatives found that up-front investments may be required to realize long-term savings. In addition, GAO's prior work on leading practices for implementing effective cross-functional teams highlights the importance of providing teams with access to resources and having well-defined team operations with established rules and procedures. However, DOD has not established a process for identifying and prioritizing available funding for implementing the teams' initiatives. Without such a process, DOD and the teams may not be able to adequately plan for and execute their reform initiatives.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that DOD establish a process to identify and prioritize funding for implementing its cross-functional teams' business reform initiatives. DOD concurred with this recommendation.