Depot Maintenance. Some Funds Intended for Maintenance Are Used for OtherPurposes

摘要

During the past several years, the Congress and officials from the Department ofDefense (DOD) and military services have expressed concerns about the adequacy of the depot maintenance funding levels and the adverse effect on readiness as a result of growing maintenance backlogs. The objectives of our review were to (1) determine the services' processes for deciding which end items of equipment will be overhauled, (2) compare the depot maintenance funding received by the services from the Congress to the amounts requested by the services and to the use of these funds, and (3) assess the services' management of maintenance backlogs and the impact of depot maintenance backlogs on readiness. The Army, the Navy, and the Air Force operate 24 major depot maintenance facilities to repair equipment that cannot or should not be repaired by field units. The types of maintenance and repair work performed at the depots include * repair and overhaul of major end items (tanks, personnel carriers, aircraft, trucks, etc.) that are paid for with operation and maintenance (OM) funds; * repair of components and major assemblies that are initially paid for with stock funds and that are returned to the supply system for issue to customers who reimburse the stock fund with 0M funds; and *modernization and conversion programs that are paid for with procurement funds.