The Army’s management of ammunition procurement and production is challenged by outdated documentation and a lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Thursday.
The GAO report also finds that vendors at four of the Army’s five government-owned, contractor-operated plants “lack incentives to make investments to improve plant infrastructure and operations, citing an inability to make a return on investment during the life of the contract.”
“The Army designed and implemented governing documentation to manage the procurement and production of conventional ammunition, which created complex relationships among multiple offices and commands at both the headquarters and plant levels,” the GAO writes in its report. “While several Army officials indicated that the governing documents at the headquarters and plant level should be revised or established, the Army has not prioritized doing so. Army officials stated that workload issues and difficulty getting agreement from all relevant parties has impeded efforts to revise the documents.”
The report recommends the Secretary of the Army to revise documents governing management of ammo plants to more clearly establish roles and responsibilities and calls on the Army’s acquisition office to take steps toward establishing processes for managing lessons learned from operating the plants, with the Army agreeing with both recommendations.
GAO’s findings arrive as the Army’s looks to make headway on a new 15-year, $16 billion organic industrial base modernization plan to upgrade its depots, arsenals and ammunition plants (Defense Daily, Feb. 1).
“The organic industrial base was designed, and really implemented in World War II. And so, what we have is really a 20th century capability to support a 21st century Army and joint force,” Gen. Ed Daly, head of Army Materiel Command, told reporters in February.
The report notes the Army’s delay in revising documents related to ammunition production, such as an agreement delineating the responsibilities between Joint Munitions Command (JMC) and Joint Program Executive Office Armaments and Ammunition (JPEO A&A), which has not been updated since 2004, “even though the roles, responsibilities, and authorities have often changed.”
GAO noted that changes in the Army’s modernization approval authority, the creation of Army Futures Command, the stand-up of new roles at ammunition plants and the dissolution of the Office of Executive Director for Conventional Ammunition have not been reflected in the Army’s government documents for ammo production.
The Army also lacks documentation that ensures JMC funding is aligned with JPEO A&A requirements, according to the GAO, and has not outlined the relationships between Army Contracting Command and other organizations with Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition responsibilities.