Defense Finance and Accounting Service Has Made Progress in Providing Staffing Levels to Support the Mission in Southwest Asia

摘要

Our objective was to assess how well DFAS met staffing level needed to support the U.S. Army Central Command (ARCENT) mission in Southwest Asia (SWA). The DFAS Expeditionary Support Organization (ESO) did not have adequate controls in place to provide the requested number of qualified DFAS personnel to support the mission in SWA. Specifically, from July 2009 through May 2010, DFAS ESO partially filled the staffing needs in SWA by providing, on average, 78 percent of the requested individuals. However, during our audit, DFAS ESO had increased the number of DFAS personnel assigned to the mission in SWA. As of October 2010, DFAS ESO filled 51 of the 56 positions, or 91 percent. DFAS ESO personnel stated that the reason they were unable to fill all ARCENT- requested positions was because they lacked enough qualified volunteers. DFAS ESO officials recognized this challenge and took action. Specifically, DFAS ESO officials approved financial incentives to increase the number of qualified volunteers to support the mission in SWA. In addition, the officials implemented a training program designed to improve the skill set of deploying DFAS personnel. Also, DFAS ESO officials had modified the application and selection process for filling ARCENT requests. Army officials stated that they were generally satisfied with the level of service provided by deployed DFAS personnel. What We Recommend DFAS ESO officials took several new steps designed to increase the quantity and quality of DFAS SWA volunteers. DFAS was in the process of implementing those changes during our audit.