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Open Recommendations (791 total)

DOD Business Systems Modernization: Further Actions Needed to Address Challenges and Improve Accountability

GAO-13-557
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense To effectively implement key components of DOD's business systems modernization program, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Deputy Chief Management Officer to ensure that the functional strategies include all of the critical elements identified in DOD investment management guidance, including performance measures to determine progress toward achieving the goals that incorporate all of the attributes called for in the department's guidance.
Open
As of September 2023, the Department of Defense (DOD) has not addressed this recommendation. Specifically, in September 2023, DOD stated that it plans to issue revised investment management guidance that will require defense business systems to align to DOD requirements and associated performance measures. The department added that its revised investment management guidance may not include a requirement for functional strategies. Further, the department stated that it plans to publish its business systems investment management guidance in June 2024. We will continue to monitor the department's efforts to fully implement this recommendation.

Unmanned Aerial Systems: Air Force and Army Should Improve Strategic Human Capital Planning for Pilot Workforces

GAO-17-53
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense To help the Air Force in its effort to address UAS pilot shortfalls, and to help the Air Force ensure that its strategies are having the intended effects, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Air Force to monitor the extent to which that achieving the human capital goals in its strategy helps the Air Force achieve its programmatic goals.
Open
DOD partially concurred with this recommendation. According to headquarters Air Force officials, the Air Force has three program goals that are related to addressing UAS pilot shortfalls: to (1) meet combat demand, (2) staff enough personnel to UAS units to allow UAS pilots time to train and take part in development activities, and (3) provide surge UAS combat capabilities when needed. As of September 2019, the Air Force does not have enough personnel in UAS units to allow UAS pilots time to train and take part in developmental activities-known as being in "dwell." As of November 2019, Air Force officials stated that they are able to "meet combat demand" but are not able to provide enough manpower to "surge UAS combat capabilities when needed." Further, as of May 2020, the Air Force did not have enough UAS aircrews to implement its Combat-to-Dwell policy that would allow UAS units to break away from combat operations to train and take part in other developmental opportunities and allow pilots and other aircrew members to take leave and reset. The Air Force does not have an overall method to monitor and measure how well it is doing in achieving it human capital goal of having the more UAS pilots and other aircrew members needed to achieve its programmatic goal of implementing the Combat-to-Dwell policy, as discussed in a later GAO report (GAO-20-320). We will continue to monitor the Air Force's progress on implementing this recommendation. In its March 2022 update, DOD stated that the Air Force planned to develop metrics to demonstrate meeting the intent of the recommendation and that it planned to complete this action by June 2023. As of May 2023, we have requested an update on actions taken to address these recommendations and will continue to follow-up on the status.

Defense Health Care: Additional Information and Monitoring Needed to Better Position DOD for Restructuring Medical Treatment Facilities

GAO-20-371
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, in coordination with the Surgeons General of the military departments and the Director of the DHA, consistently collect complete and accurate information about the extent to which non-network civilian health care providers that could be incorporated into the TRICARE network meet access-to-care standards in terms of drive time, and assess that information to inform recommendations on future MTF restructuring decisions. (Recommendation 3)
Open
DOD partially concurred with this recommendation. As of March 2023, DOD planned to implement this recommendation by developing an "Enrollment Reduction Plan" for primary care management at military medical treatment facilities (MTF), which would utilize the department's existing methodology to assess the access-to-care in terms of patients' distance to health care providers. DOD described a plan to apply this methodology as needed during the implementation of each MTF restructuring action. To implement this recommendation, however, DOD needs to premise any future MTF restructuring recommendations on information that is complete and accurate with regard to non-network providers that it believes could be incorporated into the TRICARE networks to meet access-to-care standards..

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 Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure the Director, DHA, develops a process to identify opportunities to streamline or add military-civilian training partnerships. (Recommendation 18)
Open
DOD concurred with this recommendation. The DHA has not yet implemented this recommendation. In a November 2023 status update, the DHA stated that it will develop a process to identify opportunities to streamline or add military-civilian training partnerships as part of its Sustain Expeditionary Medical Skills (SEMS) initiative, which seeks to evaluate and enable partnerships to optimize expeditionary medical skills development. This effort has an estimated completion date of December 2025.

Forced Labor: Actions Needed to Better Prevent the Availability of At-Risk Goods in DOD's Commissaries and Exchanges

GAO-22-105056
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Under Secretary for Defense for Personnel and Readiness establishes an oversight mechanism to assess DeCA's and the military exchanges' compliance with policies and processes designed to prevent the resale of goods produced by forced labor in DOD's commissaries and exchanges. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DOD concurred with this recommendation. In June 2023, DOD provided information about efforts of a working group created with representation from key stakeholders in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the military departments, DeCA, and the military exchange to develop overarching policy and consistent processes to provide reasonable assurance that the goods sold in the commissaries and exchanges are not produced by forced labor. The working group will also develop an oversight mechanism as part of that process that will assess DeCA's and the military exchanges' compliance with those policies and processes. DOD officials stated that the working group meets regularly to accomplish its assigned task and circulated draft guidance to group members for review in April 2023. They estimate that the overarching policy and associated processes will be issued no later than September 2024.

Environmental Liabilities: Improvements Needed to Measure Progress of Cleanup of Formerly Used Defense Sites

GAO-22-104744
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment establishes a relevant cleanup goal for the FUDS MMRP. (Recommendation 2)
Open
The Department of Defense concurred with recommendation 2 and reported that it has begun internal discussion to develop a cleanup goal for FUDS MMRP. The Department reported on January 25, 2024, that it plans to issue a policy memorandum to the Army establishing an MMRP goal for FUDS by July 31, 2024.

Tactical Aircraft Investments: DOD Needs Additional Portfolio Analysis to Inform Future Budget Decisions

GAO-23-106375
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should establish a requirement that ensures the congressional defense committees receive information underpinning DOD's integrated acquisition portfolio review of all piloted fixed-wing tactical aircraft platforms. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DOD partially concurred with our recommendation. In response to this report, DOD stated that the Department intends to conduct an integrated acquisition portfolio review of piloted fixed-wing tactical aircraft programs, but does not intend to establish a requirement to provide information from integrated acquisition portfolio reviews to Congress. DOD noted that the information derived from integrated acquisition portfolio reviews is used for internal, deliberative purposes, and that there are other existing methods by which the Department can provide congressional defense committees with information related to budget decisions for its piloted fixed-wing tactical aircraft platforms. In July 2023, a Senate Report Accompanying the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Secretary of Defense to provide quarterly briefings to the congressional defense committees on the status of this review, beginning no later than January 31, 2024, until the review is completed and briefed to the committees. We will continue to monitor DOD's actions related to its integrated acquisition portfolio review for piloted fixed-wing tactical aircraft.

Unwanted Sexual Behavior: Improved Guidance, Access to Care, and Training Needed to Better Address Victims' Behavioral Health Needs

GAO-23-105381
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Director of the Defense Health Agency adopts information security best practices for MHS GENESIS to incorporate the principle of least privilege and limit health record access to those with an established provider-patient relationship or a need to know, and therefore better ensure victim confidentiality and privacy. (Recommendation 5)
Open
DOD concurred with this recommendation. To fully implement GAO's recommendation, DOD needs to limit access to its electronic health record to those with an established provider-patient relationship or a need to know, and therefore better ensure victim confidentiality and privacy.

IT Systems Annual Assessment: DOD Needs to Improve Performance Reporting and Development Planning

GAO-23-106117
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Chief Information Officer to ensure that major IT business programs develop capability implementation plans or other program plans that address conducting user training and deployment, as appropriate. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Defense Industrial Base: DOD Needs Better Insight into Risks from Mergers and Acquisitions

GAO-24-106129
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy assesses whether its M&A office is adequately resourced to consistently carry out its responsibilities. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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