The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) today released the “Audit of the Impact of Continuing Resolutions on DoD Acquisition Programs.”
The DoD OIG found that the DoD has been unable to effectively manage the constraints of continuing resolutions (CRs) on acquisition programs. According to program officials, CRs ultimately delayed capabilities, which could negatively impact national security. Program officials also stated that CRs negatively impacted the Defense Industrial Base, created an administrative burden, and resulted in cost inefficiencies. However, the DoD did not track or communicate the actual impacts the CRs had on its acquisition programs.
The DoD’s processes and procedures were inefficient and did not adequately support programs preparing for and operating under CRs. DoD Components spent time developing dozens of requests to exempt programs from CR constraints, such as limitations on funding and new start programs. However, in FY 2024, Congress approved only one of 87 acquisition-related exemption requests. In addition, the audit identified that the DoD’s CR guidance did not clarify how the new start constraint applied to existing acquisition programs. Furthermore, the DoD’s budget execution reviews did not account for the limited or delayed funding under CRs, instead judging programs against their expected appropriation.
“Because the DoD did not track the impact of CRs, the impact on national security, the Defense Industrial Base, and program costs and schedules across the DoD is unknown,” said Brett Mansfield, Deputy Inspector General for Audit. “Better processes for tracking the actual impacts will help the DoD to communicate to Congress the consequences of CRs on DoD acquisition programs.”
The DoD OIG made four recommendations to improve economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the DoD’s budget and exemption request process: establish parameters to limit the number of anomaly requests, clarify the applicability of the new start constraint, assess the budget execution review process, and develop a process to track actual CR impacts on acquisition programs.
The DoD OIG will monitor the implementation of these recommendations.