Defense Logistics: Air Force Lacks Data to Assess Contractor Logistics Support Approaches

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense has directed the services to pursue logistics "reengineering" efforts to reduce logistics support costs. To this end, the Air Force has several efforts under way that apply commercial best practices and have, as a key feature, increased reliance on the private sector for logistics support. It is impossible to determine whether cost-effectiveness estimates for proposed contractor logistics support approaches are being achieved because the Air Force lacks the necessary data. Consequently, the Air Force may be testing and adopting support approaches without enough information to assess whether expected readiness improvements and cost reduction goals are being met. The Air Force's limited experience in repairing the same aircraft and components in both the public and private sectors and the lack of comparable and reliable historical financial data make it difficult to assess the cost-effectiveness of private versus public repair facilities. In addition, concerns raised about the impact of the increased use of contractor logistics support on the management of day-to-day activities have not been fully addressed.