Objective
Our objective was to determine whether DoD effectively identified and reported inventory losses in Afghanistan. This audit focused on reporting inventory losses at the Redistribution Property Assistance Team (RPAT) yards in Afghanistan. This is one in a series of audits about the transfer of equipment from Afghanistan to the United States for reset and redistribution.
Findings
The Army did not effectively report FY 2013 inventory losses at the Bagram and Kandahar, Afghanistan RPAT yards. Specifically, the 401st Army Field Support Brigade (AFSB) did not report in a timely manner 15,600 pieces of missing equipment valued at approximately $419.5 million. Although Army policy recommends a Financial Liability Investigation of Property Loss (FLIPL) be completed in 75 days, the 10 FLIPLs we reviewed averaged 318 days. Further, once the equipment was identified as lost, the 401st A FSB d id not always correctly calculate and report the total loss to the U.S. government.
This occurred because the:
- 401st AFSB officials did not considerthe inventory lost;
- 1st Theater Sustainment Command(TSC) lacked administrative control over the 401st AFSB;
- 401st AFSB did not consistently apply depreciation and made mathematical errors when calculating total inventory losses; and
- 401st AFSB and 1st TSC secondary reviews focused on the legal sufficiency of the investigation’s conclusions and recommendations and completeness of the FLIPL package instead of accuracy.
As a result of the reporting delays:
- the Army Sustainment Command does not have accurate accountability and visibility of property in Afghanistan;
- there is an increased risk that missing property will not be recovered; and
- no one was held financially responsible for the property losses or accountable for missed reporting deadlines.
During the course of the audit, we made several suggestions to the 401st AFSB and 1st TSC to resolve the reporting and processing problems. Both commands immediately acted upon our suggestions and resolved several of the concerns identified. We commend their efforts.
Recommendations
We recommend that the Commander, 401st AFSB update the command’s internal FLIPL standard operating procedure.
Management Comments and Our Response
Comments from the Commander, 401st AFSB did not address the specifics of the recommendation; therefore, we request additional comments.