Defense Headquarters: Improved Data Needed to Better Identify Streamlining and Cost Savings Opportunities by Function
Abstract
seeking to reduce its headquarters activities by identifying streamlining opportunities. DOD has multiple layers of headquarters activities with complex, overlapping relationships, such as OSD, the Joint Staff, the military service secretariats and staffs, and defense agencies. Committee reports accompanying bills for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 included provisions for GAO to identify DODs headquarters reduction efforts to date and patterns in functional areas related to DODs headquarters activities. This report (1) describes the status of DODs initiatives since 2014 to improve the efficiency of headquarters organizations and identify related cost savings, and (2) assesses the extent to which DOD has reliable data to assess headquarters functions and their associated costs. GAO assessed DOD-wide headquarters-related efficiency efforts, and a DOD-wide data set that identifies positions with headquarters functions. What GAO Recommends To further DODs efforts to identify headquarters-related efficiency opportunities, GAO recommends that DOD align its data on positions that have headquarters-related DOD function codes with the revised definition of major DOD headquarters activities and collect information on costs associated with functions within headquarters organizations. DOD concurred with the recommendations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1014088
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office