Inspector General Robert P. Storch announced today that the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) released its “FY 2025 Top DoD Management and Performance Challenges” and “FY 2025 Oversight Plan.”
The FY 2025 Top DoD Management and Performance Challenges report presents six challenges that we consider to be significant matters facing the DoD this year. Potential impacts on the management and performance of critical DoD programs are discussed for each challenge, as well as the DoD’s progress in responding to the challenges. The six challenges are: Increasing Military Readiness, Strengthening the Capabilities and Capacities of Allies and Partners, Protecting Defense Critical Infrastructure, Improving Financial Management, Improving Quality of Life for Military Families, and Building the Future Force.
“The Top Management and Performance Challenges report provides our independent assessment of the challenges the DoD faces this year,” stated IG Storch. “The report provides a valuable framework for developing our planned programmatic oversight as outlined in our Oversight Plan.”
The FY 2025 Oversight Plan describes the DoD OIG’s ongoing and planned oversight in key focus areas, which include security assistance to Ukraine and activities in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of operations. In developing this plan, the DoD OIG aligned the plan to the Top Management and Performance Challenges and considered factors such as previous oversight, potential project benefits, and input from DoD senior leaders and Congress.
“The rigorous process we use to develop our Oversight Plan ensures that our resources are used effectively to address critical issues through the performance of our audits and evaluations,” stated IG Storch.
The Oversight Plan consists of 101 planned projects, comprising 57 audits and 44 evaluations. It also describes 153 ongoing projects that continue into FY 2025. Of the planned and ongoing projects, 53 are nondiscretionary because they are required by statute. The remaining projects are discretionary and depend on available personnel and resources.
Beyond the audits and evaluations described in the Oversight Plan, the DoD OIG also operates the DoD Hotline for reporting waste, fraud, and abuse; investigates DoD senior official misconduct, whistleblower reprisal, and criminal activities by or impacting the DoD; provides education on fraud awareness and whistleblower reprisal protections; and provides quarterly reporting to Congress on oversight of several ongoing overseas contingency operations.