Backed by a GAO report showing $41.2 billion in overstock in the Pentagon's inventory, four Democratic legislators Thursday took aim at the Defense Department's buying habits, LEGI-SLATE News Service reported.
"In a time of budget cuts, when everyone has to sacrifice, it's time that the Pentagon brought its purchasing and acquisition policy into at least the late 20th century and stop wasting money," Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said at a news conference to release the GAO audit.
The audit found $41.2 billion of the Pentagon's $67 billion inventory constituted supplies that were not needed for war reserve or current operating requirements. Of that overstock, $14.6 billion worth of the items had no projected use and "will likely never be used," stated the report, which examined records from September 1995.
All told, 1.9 million different items were judged not needed. As an example, DeFazio pointed to a photo of a 1972 circuit board. The Navy has 27 on hand, which amounts to at least a 20- year supply, and 10 more on order, according to the report, which the GAO will release officially today.
The Pentagon has been able to shrink the size of its inventory from $77.5 billion in 1993, when the GAO performed a similar review. But the percentage of unneeded inventory has increased from 46 percent of the total stockpile to 62 percent in that time period.
"The Cold War is over, but at the Pentagon cold storage is not," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who requested the report along with DeFazio, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.
In response to the audit, the Defense Department "agreed with the factual data" in the report but disputed the GAO's definitions of needed and unneeded.
"These are terms the GAO has invented to make its case," James Emahiser, assistant deputy defense undersecretary, wrote to the GAO. "They do not reflect accurately how the department determines its requirements for inventory, nor how it decides what inventory to hold once it has been stocked."
According to the GAO, Pentagon officials and department documents laid out reasons for some of the overstock, including changing requirements, the practice of stocking supplies for the lifetime of a weapons system and policies requiring bulk purchase of items.
The legislators were critical of the Defense Department's use of computer programs that automatically reorder parts when inventory dips below a certain level. These systems are allowed to do this for supply orders of up to $25,000.
DeFazio referred to the programs as "Hal," the out-of-control computer from the movie "2001 Space Odyssey."
To correct the problem, the legislators said they are working on legislation; they will also seek public hearings on the matter.
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