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GAO-08-62R 1 (2007-11-09)

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       Accountability * Integrity * Reliability
United States Government Accountability Office
Washington, DC 20548

           November 9, 2007

           Congressional Committees

           Subject: Defense Acquisitions: Department of Defense Actions on Program
           Manager Empowerment and Accountability

           In November 2005, we issued a report on the environment within which the
           Department of Defense (DOD) program managers perform their work.' We
           identified areas where program managers believe they are insufficiently
           empowered to execute programs, and therefore, because much is beyond their
           control, accountability is difficult. We also compared department policies and
           practices to those of leading commercial companies we visited and discussed
           actions DOD could take to improve program manager accountability, while also
           providing them with timely support as they manage the development of weapon
           systems. We recommended that DOD take a number of actions to ensure program
           managers are well positioned to successfully execute acquisitions and be held
           accountable.

           The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 directed
           the Secretary of Defense to develop a comprehensive strategy for enhancing the
           role of DOD program managers in developing and carrying out defense acquisition
           programs and to revise guidance for major defense acquisition programs to
           address the qualifications, resources, responsibilities, tenure, and accountability of
           program managers for the program development and execution periods.2 In
           addition, GAO was directed to report on the actions taken by the Secretary of
           Defense to implement the requirements of the Act.

           To identify DOD actions to implement the Act, we met with DOD officials and
           reviewed documents they provided to determine what actions were planned to
           address and implement the congressional mandate, including DOD's required
           strategy. We reviewed existing DOD policies, directives, and guidance on the
           qualifications, resources, responsibilities, authority, tenure, and accountability of
           program managers. Finally, we made extensive use of our prior work in this and
           other related areas. We conducted our work from January to September 2007 in
           accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.



           'GAO, Best Practices: Better Support of Weapon System Program Managers Needed to Improve Outcomes,
           (;A- ( - 110 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 30, 2005).
           'John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, Pub. L. No. 109-364, §853 (2006).


GAO-08-62R DOD Program Manager Accountability


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