GAO offers Defense Department risk enhancement recommendations

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued Wednesday a series of recommendations to the Department of Defense (DOD), as a means of resolving ongoing data access issues with suppliers.

GAO officials said while the DOD relies on a network of suppliers to provide the materials and equipment needed to develop weapon systems, the department is also required to maintain a data repository of industrial base suppliers to provide insight about potential risks to the base.

But the GAO referenced the DOD has not been able to create the repository, in part due to problems accessing sensitive supplier data.

GAO officials said the agency was asked to review the DOD’s efforts to ensure a viable defense industrial base, addressing the DOD’s approach to identifying industrial base risks and its investments to address those risks.

The GAO is recommending the DOD resolve ongoing data access problems before further investing in current efforts.

To that end, the GAO maintains the DOD should make better use of existing supplier data and identify the appropriate workforce mix needed to work with business-sensitive data.

The GAO said the DOD partially concurred while referencing the department is taking steps to identify and integrate existing supplier data while evaluating staff resources for safeguarding business-sensitive data.