Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided the results of its review of the Department of Defense's (DOD) plan for depot-level tactical missile maintenance consolidation, focusing on the plans': (1) cost-effectiveness; (2) effects on missile readiness; and (3) impact on the environment. GAO found that: (1) DOD has delayed plans for tactical missile maintenance consolidation indefinitely due to a 1992 district court ruling that required it to use competitive procedures to determine which depot site should perform the work; (2) DOD tactical missile maintenance consolidation could be accomplished without adversely impacting missile system readiness but it could not accurately assess the adequacy or extent that maintenance consolidation affected readiness plans or was cost effective; and (3) although the Army did not independently assess the impact of tactical missile maintenance consolidation on the environment, it concluded that consolidation would not have a significant environmental impact and that several initiatives existed to reduce existing environmental pollutants.