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DOD Needs to Put Its Hands on Its (Mi-17) Hips: Inspector General Report
The Department of Defense Inspector General (IG) says that the Pentagon is doing an inadequate job managing the purchase and support of non-standard rotary wing aircraft (NSRWA) -- primarily, Russian-built Mi-17 helicopters (NATO designation "Hip") purchased to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Afghan National Air Corps Mi-17 helicopters taking off in April 2007. U.S. Air Force Photo
In its report summary (the full report has been marked Official Use Only; a public version of the report will be released later), "Results in Brief: DoD Needs to Improve Accountability and Identify Costs and Requirements for Non-Standard Rotary Wing Aircraft" [PDF], the IG finds that officials were unable to comprehensively list all DOD-owned and supported Mi-17s, their ownership costs, or their planned support requirements.
At stake is the potential for waste, fraud and abuse in the $1.6 billion obligated for NSRWA efforts over the past 5 years, with $1 billion more estimated for future efforts.
The report blames the fact that the NSRWA Project Management Office, established in January 2010 and based at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, was created as a temporary solution that was not authorized to make departmentwide decisions and did not follow the defense acquisition process, despite meeting the requirements of a major defense acquisition program.
The IG's recommendations include having the NSRWA program established as a long-term effort, with a defense acquisition program category and a formal charter for the NSRWA Project Manager. It also recommends the NSRWA office implement the initiatives established in the November 3, 2010 Better Buying Power memorandum, "Implementation Directive for Better Buying Power - Obtaining Greater Efficiency and Productivity in Defense Spending." [PDF]
It requests comments from the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology by February 6, 2012.
Joe Loong is the managing editor of GovWin from Deltek, the network that helps government contractors win new business every day. He can be reached at joeloong@govwin.com, or follow him on Twitter @joelogon.
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