Pursuit's Take
DOD has not identified $10 billion in cost savings through fiscal year 2019 as required and does not have a reliable cost savings estimate to support the cost savings it has identified. According to DOD documents, the department estimates that it will save about $13.1 billion from fiscal years 2015 through 2021. It based its cost savings estimate on savings DOD (1) identified in May 2015 and (2) reported to Congress in its March 2016 interim update.
DOD’s projected cost savings estimate is unreliable because DOD-provided documentation, when compared with best practices for cost estimates, was not sufficiently detailed to support the estimate. According to DOD’s internal assessment, the $5.3 billion in cost savings identified in the May 2015 report were “not auditable” because the baseline for reductions had not been established, among other reasons.
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