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Open Recommendations (136 total)

Domestic Abuse: Actions Needed to Enhance DOD's Prevention, Response, and Oversight

GAO-21-289
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Army The Secretary of the Army should ensure the cognizant offices revise or issue regulations to clarify that violation of civilian protective orders is punishable under the UCMJ as required by DOD policy. (Recommendation 5)
Open
The Army concurred with this recommendation, and in August 2021, stated that the Army will review and determine whether a policy update is needed to comply with DOD policy providing that a violation of a civilian protection order is punishable under the UCMJ. In March 2023, the Army stated it plans to update its Army Regulation 190-45 to incorporate language that states military personnel who do not comply with a civilian protective order may be subject to administrative or disciplinary action under the UCMJ. The Army estimated these actions will be completed by October 2023. As of December 2023, the Army has not provided additional information on actions it has taken to implement this recommendation. We will update the status of this recommendation once we confirm what actions the Army has taken.

Sexual Assault: DOD and Coast Guard Should Ensure Laws Are Implemented to Improve Oversight of Key Prevention and Response Efforts

GAO-22-103973
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Army The Secretary of the Army should review and update policy or establish policy, and set a timeframe for completion, to ensure alignment with sexual assault prevention and response statutory requirements, specifically section 582(a) of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2012, and section 520(a) of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2018. (Recommendation 10)
Open
In March 2022, the Department of Defense concurred with this recommendation. As of May 2023, the department stated this recommendation has a future estimated date of completion, but did not provide the estimated date. When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Middle-Tier Defense Acquisitions: Rapid Prototyping and Fielding Requires Changes to Oversight and Development Approaches

GAO-23-105008
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Army The Secretary of the Army should update component MTA policies to fully implement the following principle throughout development: applying iterative design approaches. (Recommendation 16)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

VA Disability Benefits: Actions Needed to Address Challenges Reserve Component Members Face Accessing Compensation

GAO-24-105400
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Army The Secretary of the Army should develop and document plans so the Army can implement the new DD Form 214-1 by February 2025. Such plans should fully apply sound planning practices, such as (1) identifying resources; (2) developing activities and timelines; (3) establishing roles, responsibilities, and coordination; (4) conducting a risk assessment; and (5) establishing performance management, such as goals and indicators to measure progress. (Recommendation 8)
Open
DOD agreed with this recommendation. We will monitor DOD's progress to implement it.

Defense Health Care: Actions Needed to Define and Sustain Wartime Medical Skills for Enlisted Personnel

GAO-21-337
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Army The Secretary of the Army should develop annual retention goals, by skill level, for enlisted medical personnel. (Recommendation 24)
Open
The Army concurred with this recommendation and stated in November 2023 status update that implementing actions were underway, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2024. We will update the status of this recommendation once we confirm what actions the Army has taken.

Sexual Harassment and Assault: The Army Should Take Steps to Enhance Program Oversight, Evaluate Effectiveness, and Identify Reporting Barriers

GAO-22-104673
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Army The Secretary of the Army should develop a suite of performance measures that measure the desired outcomes for the SHARP program and, at a minimum, are clearly defined, objective, balanced, and enable consistent tracking of program performance over time. (Recommendation 7)
Open
The Army concurred with this recommendation. In December 2022 the Army stated that it will work with the DOD Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) and the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) to develop standardized performance measures for the SHARP program. In January 2024, the Army stated that it is working in coordination with the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD(P&R)) to address this recommendation in connection with a related recommendation from the Independent Review Team Report on Sexual Assault in the Military (IRT), which directs the development and implementation of metrics related to sexual harassment and sexual assault as part of readiness tracking and reporting. DOD plans to implement this IRT recommendation, and by extension, our recommendation, in 2028. In order to implement this recommendation, the Army needs to develop a suite of performance measures, such as standardized performance measures developed in collaboration with SAPRO and ODEI, that measure the desired outcomes of the SHARP program and meet the requirements laid out in our recommendation. We will continue to monitor the Army's actions in response to this recommendation and will provide updated information as appropriate.

National Guard Helicopters: Additional Actions Needed to Prevent Accidents and Improve Safety

GAO-23-105219
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Army The Secretary of Army should ensure the Director of the Army National Guard assesses the resource and workload allocations of safety personnel to determine whether helicopter units are appropriately staffed, or if any adjustments are needed to workloads or resource levels to implement operational flight safety programs. (Recommendation 5)
Open
The Army concurred with this recommendation with comment. In a corrective action plan provided to us in February 2024, Army officials noted that they intend to perform a staffing-level study as there is not a recent, comprehensive study for staffing aviation flight facilities. The Army estimates that this study will be completed by the end of September 2028. By taking this action, the Army will have visibility on whether their aviation facilities are appropriately staffed and what an appropriate staffing level would be, which is in alignment with what GAO recommended in March 2023.

Military Justice: Actions Needed to Help Ensure Success of Judge Advocate Career Reforms

GAO-24-106165
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Army The Secretary of the Army should ensure the Army Judge Advocate General issues guidance that addresses the risk that the perishability of litigation skills poses to the use of skill levels for Army litigators, such as specifying the maximum time a recipient may serve in a non-litigation role before the skill level must be reviewed. (Recommendation 7)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Small Business Contracting: Actions Needed to Demonstrate and Better Review Compliance with Select Requirements for Small Business Advocates

GAO-17-675
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Army To address demonstrated noncompliance with section 15(k) of the Small Business Act, as amended, the Secretary of the Army should comply with section 15(k)(8) or report to Congress on why the agency has not complied, including seeking any statutory flexibilities or exceptions believed appropriate.
Open
DOD did not concur with this recommendation, related to assigning small business technical advisors, because it said that the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement delegates the authority to appoint small business technical advisers to the head of the contracting activity. We continue to believe that the recommendation is valid because when a statutory provision such as section 15(k) and regulations such as the acquisition regulation conflict, the statute controls. An agency official said that the DOD OSBP recommended, as part of the legislative proposal process, changes to the National Defense Authorization Act to align with the DOD OSBP's interpretation of the statute, but it did not make it out of DOD. We will continue to monitor DOD's efforts to address this recommendation.

Defense Transportation: The Army Should Take Action to Better Ensure Adequate Rail Support to Combatant Commanders

GAO-21-411
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Army The Secretary of the Army should ensure that Army Materiel Command determines the requirement for trained rail operating crews in the event of a mobilization and compares that requirement against its existing capability to meet deployment demands at key CONUS installations in support of large-scale combat operations. (Recommendation 1)
Open
As of December 2021, DOD concurred with this recommendation. In its response to our recommendation, DOD stated that AMC is tracking holistic power projection requirements across the Army. AMC will prioritize investments according to Army Senior Leader guidance as part of the Program Objective Memorandum (POM) process. AMC is currently assessing the number of rail operating crews required to support surge requirements (24 hours a day for up to 120 days) for large-scale mobilization operations at key CONUS locations. In addition, AMC is assessing the shortfall to meet surge requirements, which includes mitigation strategies. AMC will complete the assessment no later than March 2022. Once the assessment is complete, AMC will capture the requirements as a part of the POM process. To fully address this recommendation, DOD needs to fully implement this corrective action. We met with Army officials in November 2023 and those officials are currently providing documentation regarding the Army's efforts to address GAO recommendations.
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