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GAO-18-688R 1 (2018-09-24)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacprp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: c A U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 September 24, 2018 Congressional Committees Defense Efficiency Initiatives: Observations on DOD's Reported Reductions to Its Headquarters and Administrative Activities Reducing the resources devoted to headquarters activities has been a long-standing challenge for the Department of Defense (DOD). Headquarters activities include organizations such as the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, military service secretariats and staff, and headquarters elements of the combatant commands, defense agencies, and DOD field activities. In 2010, the Secretary of Defense announced a department-wide efficiency initiative to reduce overhead costs and reinvest the savings in sustaining DOD's current force structure and modernizing its weapons portfolio.1 Since then, the department has pursued reductions in the size of staff within headquarters activities. We have previously reported on the growth in DOD's headquarters activities, the difficulties of accounting for related resources, and the department's efforts to pursue reductions in headquarters staff. For example, in March 2012, we recommended that DOD seek further opportunities to centralize administrative and command support services, functions, and programs and improve its ability to identify headquarters personnel.2 Further, in June 2014, we recommended, among other things, that DOD set clearly defined and consistently applied baselines and track management headquarters reductions against the baselines.3 DOD concurred with these recommendations and, as discussed later in this report, has taken some actions to implement them. Congress has also taken action to reduce DOD's headquarters costs and find efficiencies related to these activities. Through section 904 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, for example, Congress directed DOD to develop and report on a plan to streamline headquarters by changing or reducing the size of staffs, eliminating tiers of management, cutting functions that provide little or no added value, and consolidating 1DOD defines force structure as the composition of DOD organizations, both military and civilian, that constitute and support U.S. defense forces, as specified by the National Defense Authorization Acts of current and applicable previous years. Force structure also defines the organizational hierarchy through which leadership authorities are exercised. 2GAO, Defense Headquarters: Further Efforts to Examine Resource Needs and Improve Data Could Provide Additional Opportunities for Cost Savings, GAO-1 2-345 (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 21, 2012). 3GAO, Defense Headquarters: DOD Needs to Reevaluate Its Approach for Managing Resources Devoted to the Functional Combatant Commands, GAO-14-439 (Washington, D.C.: June 26, 2014). GAO-18-688R Defense Efficiency Initiatives Page 1

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