Summary

GAO reviewed proposals that would require the Defense Department (DOD) to (1) accept Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approvals on spare parts unless DOD provides specific reasons for not accepting the approvals and (2) adopt the FAA practice of designating individuals who are not employees to approve spare parts on behalf of the agency. Neither agency maintains data on all the parts used by both civil and military aviation, and manufacturers do not make this information readily available. Both DOD and FAA officials believe that the proposals would be impractical because their agencies' missions and spare parts approval processes differ substantially. DOD and FAA officials acknowledge that their spare parts approval processes are complex and subjective, but they believe that their separate approaches are necessary for ensuring that those parts meet the different standards of each agency.

GAO found that: (1) neither DOD nor FAA maintain data on the universe of parts used by both civil and military aviation; (2) both DOD and FAA believe that the differences in their parts approval processes and missions would make it difficult for DOD to implement the two proposals; (3) FAA sets minimum safety standards but permits the manufacturers and purchasers to exceed those standards; (4) DOD determines both safety and performance requirements for military aircraft and spare parts; and (5) FAA designates non-FAA employees as representatives empowered to approve spare parts, but DOD is not willing to have non-DOD employees determine conformance to DOD standards.