What We Did:
We conducted this audit in response to allegations made to the DoD Hotline. The objective of this audit was to determine whether the Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) resolved customer requests for microelectronics using the Advanced Reconfigurable Manufacturing for Semiconductors (ARMS) facilities.
What We Found:
The DMEA generally resolved customer requests for microelectronics using the ARMS facilities. Specifically, the DMEA identified solutions for 882 of the 908 DoD requests (97 percent) that did not require the use of the ARMS foundry. In addition, between January 1, 2014, and June 30, 2019, the DMEA used the ARMS foundry to fabricate five wafer lots for five DoD customer requests. The DMEA was unable to provide solutions for 10 DoD requests because of a lack of technical data or a lack of DMEA engineering resources or processes to provide a solution. Furthermore, 11 DoD customers did not pursue a DMEA solution because the customer identified its own solution or the customer did not respond to DMEA followup requests.
While the DMEA was able to resolve the majority of customer requests, it is not clear whether the DoD’s current use of the ARMS foundry is justified. The DMEA spent $32.4 million between January 1, 2014, and June 30, 2019, to maintain the ARMS foundry while using it to address only 5 DoD customer requests. The DMEA also budgeted $35.8 million to maintain the ARMS foundry from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2024.
What We Recommend:
We recommend that the Director of Defense Research and Engineering for Research and Technology, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, complete an assessment of the use of the existing foundry and determine whether the existing foundry is still needed.