The Government Accountability Office has found that the Department of Defense does not have sufficient information to determine all the critical materials that should be included in its national defense stockpile.
A review of the DOD’s stockpile management also revealed a lack of clear guidelines for when to release and use products from the stockpile, GAO said Tuesday.
The DOD stores items that are strategic and critical to defense and essential civilian needs in times of national emergency.
GAO acknowledged the DOD processes for identifying material requirements and managing the stockpile but said the agency does not have program offices and other relevant entities providing the necessary data for stockpile modeling, resulting in the DOD not having stock of its highest priority materials.
DOD reports indicate that from fiscal years 2019 to 2023, the agency primarily stored up the same 50 types of materials but the number of items in shortfall increased by 167 percent, the government watchdog said.
GAO made six recommendations, including identifying the roles and responsibilities for providing data needed to model DOD’s requirements.
The Defense Department concurred with all of the recommendations.