Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed key elements the Department of Defense (DOD) would need to improve its management of the defense acquisition process.

GAO found that: (1) DOD has had cost growth, schedule slippage, and performance shortfall problems in its acquisitions; (2) since the DOD acquisition process was complex, DOD needed to address such fundamental elements as leadership, work force, organization, information, and affordability, to achieve a more effective acquisition process and solve its problems; and (3) DOD lacked internal controls needed to enforce compliance.