GAO recommends adherence to reliability practice for DOD acquisition programs

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending that seven Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition programs adhere to key reliability practices.

The GAO was asked to examine DOD weapon system reliability. The DOD invests billions of dollars each year in major defense acquisition programs, designing and developing advanced weapon systems that warfighters expect will meet specific performance and reliability requirements. Systems that are not reliable make it more difficult for warfighters to perform their missions.

The GAO found that the seven DOD acquisition programs did not consistently adhere to these key practices, including leveraging reliability engineers early and often, establishing realistic reliability requirements, emphasizing reliability with their suppliers, and employing reliability engineering activities to improve a system’s design throughout the development.

The GAO determined that these seven programs in question often prioritized schedule and cost over incorporating the key reliability practices. As a result, these systems were generally not as reliable as promised.

Thus, the GAO recommends that the secretaries of the Air Force, Army, and Navy should highlight the importance of three key reliability practices — leveraging reliability engineers, establishing realistic reliability requirements, and employing reliability engineering activities to improve a system’s design throughout development.

The DOD concurred with the GAO’s recommendations.