Summary

GAO reviewed the effectiveness of efforts at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center (OCALC) to implement the Air Force High Dollar Spare Parts Breakout Program.

GAO believes that the Air Force is not breaking out, for maximum practicable competition or direct purchase, the high dollar value spare parts supplied by a large prime contractor. GAO stated that breakout efforts have been limited because of lack of information regarding the actual manufacturers of the parts and uncertainty about the government's rights to use technical data prepared by a prime contractor. Further, GAO believes that, if the Air Force would develop better ways of identifying actual manufacturers, it could purchase directly from them. Specifically, GAO found that, although aircraft engine replenishment spare parts account for about 7.5 percent of the spare parts that OCALC buys from a prime contractor, they represent about 76.6 percent of the procurement dollars. Thus, by avoiding the prime contractor's markup and reducing production leadtime by direct purchase of a portion of these relatively few parts, OCALC could maximize savings.