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Open Recommendations (208 total)

Military Vehicles: Army and Marine Corps Should Take Additional Actions to Mitigate and Prevent Training Accidents

GAO-21-361
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Navy
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of the Navy, in consultation with the Commandant of the Marine Corps, should ensure that tactical vehicle driver training programs—to include licensing, unit, and follow-on training—have a well-defined process with specific performance criteria and measureable standards to identify driver skills and experience under diverse conditions. (Recommendation 6)
Open
The Navy concurred with this recommendation. According to an action plan provided to us in February of 2024, the Marine Corps has already taken a number of actions to address this recommendation, to include holding several meetings to specifically discuss new initiatives to address these challenges. The Marine Corps identified that it is also creating a new Tactical Vehicle Off-Road Instructor Military Occupational Specialty to help manage commands' licensing requirements and driver training needs. The Marine Corps estimates that this action will be completed in June of 2024. By taking these actions the Marine Corps will improve tactical driver training, as recommended by GAO in July 2021.

Military Correctional Facilities: Consistent Application of Standards and Improved Oversight Could Enhance Health and Safety

GAO-23-105082
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy should ensure that the Commandant of the Marine Corps develops a plan for approving and filling positions related to staffing shortages of health and safety-related personnel at MCFs. (Recommendation 3)
Open
DOD concurred with this recommendation. As of February 2023, DOD stated that the Marine Corps will analyze and validate positions related to staffing shortages and is considering contracting options as an interim solution. DOD estimates that this action will be complete in December 2024.

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 Navy The Secretary of the Navy should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs), in conjunction with the Commandant of the Marine Corps, issues guidance to require the inclusion of judge advocates with relevant professional experience, such as a judge advocate with significant military justice experience, on Marine Corps unrestricted officer promotion boards. (Recommendation 5)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Military Personnel: DOD Needs to Improve Dental Clinic Staffing Models and Evaluate Recruitment and Retention Programs

GAO-19-50
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy should ensure that the Surgeon General of the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery evaluates the effectiveness of its recruitment and retention programs for military dentists, including the need for and effectiveness of the recruitment and retention incentives currently offered. (Recommendation 5)
Open
On January 15, 2019, DOD sent a correspondence that indicated the military departments are taking steps to study the effectiveness of their recruitment and retention programs for military dentists including the need for, and effectiveness of, the recruitment and retention incentives currently offered. This study will be complete by January 1, 2020. In a letter dated April 27, 2020, DOD stated the Navy has initiated a study to evaluate the effectiveness of recruitment and retention programs for military dentists, including the need for and effectiveness of currently offered incentives. The final report is due June 2020. As of October 2020, GAO has requested, but has not received documentation to show that the final report has been completed. On June 8, 2021, DOD representatives from Health Affairs and the Services met with the GAO to discuss what is needed to close the recommendations. GAO requested evidence that the actions have been completed. As of May 12, 2022, GAO had not yet received these supporting documents. GAO followed up with DOD representatives on May 1, 2023. DOD representatives requested further clarification on the types of supporting documents to provide GAO, and indicated they will provide these documents. On May 23, 2023, DOD provided an updated correction action plan indicating that activities related to this recommendation will be complete by July 2023. As of January 2024, DOD has not provided additional information on the status of its efforts to address this recommendation. GAO will continue to monitor DOD's efforts and update the recommendation as more information becomes available.

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 Navy The Secretary of the Navy should ensure that the Commandant of the Marine Corps reviews and updates policy or establishes policy, and sets a timeframe for completion, to ensure alignment with sexual assault prevention and response statutory requirements, specifically, section 1745(a)-(c) of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2014 and updates such policies for compliance with the statute. (Recommendation 12)
Open
In March 2022, the Department of Defense concurred with this recommendation. In August 2022, the department provided Marine Corps guidance we had already identified in the report as not requiring that a notation of convictions of non-judicial punishment or punitive administration action for sexual offenses may not be placed in the restricted section of the personnel service record. When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Military Housing: DOD Can Further Strengthen Oversight of Its Privatized Housing Program [Reissued with Revisions Apr. 20, 2023]

GAO-23-105377
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy, in collaboration with the other military departments, should update internal policy documents, as well as brochures provided to residents, to more clearly identify the specific roles and responsibilities of the military housing office officials designated as tenant advocates, including what they can and cannot do to support residents. (Recommendation 9)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Navy Shipbuilding: Increasing Focus on Sustainment Early in the Acquisition Process Could Save Billions

GAO-20-2
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy should direct the ASN (RD&A) and the CNO to ensure sustainment-related briefing topics prescribed by the Navy's acquisition policy are consistently discussed at Gate reviews. (Recommendation 9)
Open – Partially Addressed
The Navy agreed with GAO's March 2020 recommendation and, as of March 2023, officials stated the Navy had begun taking steps to address the intent of the recommendation. For example, the Navy established a Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Sustainment to help ensure sustainment is considered in acquisition decisions, including Gate reviews. The Navy also updated its acquisition policy to implement a new sustainment Gate review at the end of the acquisition process and reiterated existing requirements in the policy for sustainment topics to be discussed during all other Gate reviews. As of March 2023, GAO found that the Navy was more consistently considering sustainment topics during recent Gate reviews. However, all of these recent Gate reviews were for programs already in the late stages of the acquisition process. Since it is critical to consider long-term sustainment planning during the early stages of the acquisition process, as GAO noted in its 2020 report, GAO maintains that the Navy needs to demonstrate a commitment to discussing sustainment at all Gate reviews, including the Gate reviews early in the acquisition process. GAO will continue to monitor the Navy's actions to carry out Gate reviews in alignment with its policy and to confirm that sustainment topics are being discussed during early Gate reviews.

Naval Shipyards: Actions Needed to Improve Poor Conditions that Affect Operations

GAO-17-548
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Navy
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of the Navy should develop a comprehensive plan for shipyard capital investment that establishes (1) the desired goal for the shipyards' condition and capabilities; (2) an estimate of the full costs to implement the plan, addressing all relevant requirements, external risk factors, and associated planning costs; and (3) metrics for assessing progress toward meeting the goal that include measuring the effectiveness of capital investments. (Recommendation 1)
Open
The Navy concurred with this recommendation and said it would take steps to develop and implement a comprehensive plan. Naval Sea Systems Command produced a Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan in February 2018 to guide the overhaul and improvement of the naval shipyards. (1) The plan includes some goals for the desired shipyard condition and capabilities including to: recover almost 70 maintenance periods over the next 20 years, modernize capital equipment to industry standards, optimize facilities, and reduce travel time and movement for personnel and materiel during the maintenance process. (2) The report includes a preliminary cost estimate, but work is underway to determine the full costs to address all relevant requirements, risk factors, and planning costs (see GAO-20-64). The plan identifies risks that could increase costs, but does not identify solutions to address those risks. Program officials said they will develop plans to address the risks in subsequent phases of the planning effort. The risks Navy officials identified included historical preservation, environmental regulations, and the need for extra capacity. (3) As of February 2023, the SIOP program office has developed a number of metrics that it intends to use in developing its individual shipyard plans. These included broad attributes such as enhancing mission readiness, providing a safe environment, and enhancing workforce support. They also included more detailed metrics, such as length of maintenance, change in labor days, and amount of travel reduced. The SIOP program office used these metrics to determine its preferred course of action for the Pearl Harbor-specific infrastructure plan, and officials have stated that the program office plans to use these same metrics in all its shipyard-specific plans. This is an encouraging sign, and if the other shipyard-specific plans include these or similar metrics as well, the Navy will be well positioned to implement this recommendation. As of February 2024, the Navy was developing a document that would establish the goals of the SIOP program. They anticipate completing this in September 2024. Additionally, the Navy is developing shipyard-specific plans to guide project development. However, these plans will not be complete until 2026. As a result, the Navy estimates that it will not complete implementation of this recommendation until the end of fiscal year 2026.

Suicide Prevention: DOD Should Enhance Oversight, Staffing, Guidance, and Training Affecting Certain Remote Installations

GAO-22-105108
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy should develop a process to ensure that command suicide prevention program managers complete required training. (Recommendation 12)
Open
The Navy concurred with this recommendation, and in July 2022, stated that the Navy will update its suicide prevention policy to ensure that suicide prevention program managers complete required training. In August 2023, the Navy stated that the update to its instruction is in progress but has been delayed due to the incorporation of additional requirements. In December 2023, the Navy stated that the policy update will be completed by June 2024. When we confirm what actions the Navy has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

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 the Navy The Secretary of the Navy should ensure that the Marine Corps guidance on involuntary officer and enlisted administrative separations is modified to require that the Marine Corps's standardized separation notification correspondence includes information about the general or flag officer review for victims of sexual assault. (Recommendation 15)
Open
DOD concurred with this recommendation. To fully implement GAO's recommendation, the Marine Corps needs to modify its guidance on involuntary officer and enlisted administrative separations to require that the Marine Corps's standardized separation notification correspondence includes information about the general or flag officer review for victims of sexual assault.
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