Summary

In 1972, the Department of Defense (DOD) issued a directive requiring the military services to establish work measurement systems for real property maintenance based on engineered performance standards and to prepare timely and meaningful reports for evaluating performance. The use by the U.S. Army in Europe (USAREUR) of its work measurement system for real property maintenance was reviewed at two installations. At the two military communities, engineered performance standards were being used for less than half of the maintenance and repair workload. In some instances, the communities were using non-engineered performance standards, but many of these standards were inaccurate and improperly applied. The Army has specific guidelines for using work measurement data to evaluate the efficiency of its maintenance operations. At the two facilities, internal controls were inadequate to insure that labor hours were correctly reported. The USAREUR work measurement system has not provided the benefits such systems offer for evaluating the performance and improving the productivity of the work force. The Secretary of the Army should require USAREUR to: establish appropriate controls over the recording of estimated hours and actual hours of maintenance work orders; and compile, summarize, and analyze the productivity data in evaluating work performance.