The availability of spare parts and other critical items provided through the Department of Defense's (DOD) supply chains affects the readiness and capabilities of U.S. military forces. Since 1990, GAO has designated DOD supply chain management as a high-risk area. In 2005, DOD developed a plan aimed at addressing supply chain problems and having GAO remove this high-risk designation. DOD's plan focuses on three areas: requirements forecasting, asset visibility, and materiel distribution. GAO was asked to provide its views on (1) DOD's progress in developing and implementing the initiatives in its plan, (2) the results of recent work relating to the three focus areas covered by the plan, and (3) the integration of supply chain management with efforts to improve defense business operations. GAO also addressed broader issues of logistics governance and strategic planning. This testimony is based on prior GAO reports and analysis. To determine whether to retain the high-risk designation for supply chain management, GAO considers

DoD¿s management of its supply chain network is critical to supporting military forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere and also represents a substantial investment of resources. As a result of weaknesses in DoD's management of supply inventories and responsiveness to warfighter requirements, supply chain management is a high-risk fed. gov¿t. program. In July 2010, DoD issued a new Logistics Strategic Plan that represents the dept's. current vision and direction for supply chain management and other logistics areas. This testimony: (1) describes DoD's prior strategic planning efforts in the area of logistics; (2) highlights key elements in the new Logistics Strategic Plan; and (3) discusses opportunities for improvement in future iterations of this plan. Ill.

Investigates the impact of information technology, biogenetic, and pharmacological innovation on individuals quality of life, safety, individual and system health care utilization, occupational and environmental health and formulary decision making, and costs.