Defense Transportation: 89th Airlift Wing Executive Branch Policies
Improved but Reimbursement Issues Remain (Letter Report, 08/16/1999,
GAO/NSIAD-99-170).
GAO reported in 1992 that the policies governing the use of military
aircraft were too broad and vague to have much impact on the use of the
89th Airlift Wing by government officials. (See GAO/NSIAD-92-133.)
Moreover, at that time, the use of aircraft was free of charge to all
but a few users, and no one independently verified compliance with
policies. This follow-up report finds that the Office of Management and
Budget, the Defense Department (DOD), and the White House have addressed
GAO's earlier recommendations for strengthening the management and use
of the 89th Airlift Wing. Specifically, they have defined key terms,
spelled out circumstances under which reimbursements are due, and
required record-keeping. Requests to DOD for use of the wing generally
complied with application policies on justification for using the 89th
Airlift Wing. However, DOD acknowledged that agency reimbursements for
wing missions have generally not been collected for two years and, in
some cases, for as long as six years. Also, reimbursements for
nonofficial travel sometimes were credited to the wrong accounts or the
collection of reimbursements could not be verified.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: NSIAD-99-170
TITLE: Defense Transportation: 89th Airlift Wing Executive Branch
Policies Improved but Reimbursement Issues Remain
DATE: 08/16/1999
SUBJECT: Public officials
Policy evaluation
Internal controls
Reimbursements to government
Airlift services
Accounting procedures
Military aircraft
IDENTIFIER: VC-25A Aircraft
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United States General Accounting Office GAO Report
to the Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate August
1999 DEFENSE TRANSPORTATION 89th Airlift Wing Executive
Branch Policies Improved but Reimbursement Issues Remain
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 United States General Accounting Office
National Security and Washington, D.C. 20548
International Affairs Division B-282994
Letter August 16, 1999 The Honorable Ted Stevens Chairman,
Committee on Appropriations United States Senate Dear Mr.
Chairman: In 1992, we issued a report on policies and procedures
governing access to and use of the 89th Airlift Wing entitled
Military Aircraft: Policies on Government Officials' Use of 89th
Military Airlift Wing Aircraft (GAO/NSIAD-92-133). We reported
that the policies governing the use of military aircraft were too
broad and vague to have much impact on the use of the 89th Airlift
Wing by executive and legislative branch officials. Moreover, at
that time, the use of aircraft was free of charge to all but a few
users, and no one independently verified compliance with policies.
We concluded that the policies and their implementation were
inadequate and did not ensure that the wing's airlift resources
were being used appropriately and consistently. We made several
recommendations designed to strengthen controls over uses of the
89th Airlift Wing and reimbursements for such uses. At your
request, we determined whether (1) changes to executive branch
policies since 1992 addressed the intent of our recommendations
and (2) reimbursements have been made for use of 89th Airlift Wing
aircraft. Because most of the missions flown by the 89th Airlift
Wing are in support of the executive branch, we focused our
analysis on the changes made to executive branch guidance
concerning the use of government-owned aircraft, such as the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-126 and other
relevant Department of Defense (DOD) and White House implementing
guidance. We are also providing you with information on which
agencies of the government were the most frequent wing users
during 1993-99 and how DOD resolves scheduling conflicts. Results
in Brief OMB, DOD, and the White House
addressed our recommendations in policy revisions made since 1992,
thus strengthening the management and use of the 89th Airlift Wing
by defining key terms, specifying circumstances under which
reimbursements are due, and requiring certain record-keeping
measures. Requests to DOD for use of the wing generally complied
with Page 1 GAO/NSIAD-99-
170 Military Aircraft B-282994 applicable policies on
justifications for using the 89th Airlift Wing. However, DOD
acknowledged that agency reimbursements for wing missions have
generally not been collected for 2 years and in some cases for as
long as 6 years. Also, reimbursements for nonofficial travel in
some cases were credited to the wrong accounts or the collection
of the reimbursements could not be verified. Although in our 1992
report we noted problems with reimbursement processes,
instructions to collect and account for them are still lacking. We
are making a recommendation in this report to the Secretary of
Defense to improve the billing and reimbursement process.
Background The 89th Airlift Wing, located at Andrews Air Force
Base, Maryland, is a component of the Air Force's Air Mobility
Command. The wing provides worldwide airlift for the President,
Vice President, cabinet members, and other high-ranking
dignitaries of the U.S. and foreign governments. As of June 1999,
the wing had 20 fixed-wing aircraft and 19 helicopters. (The
helicopters are used to meet transportation needs in the
Washington, D.C., area, and are not discussed in this report.)
Table 1 displays the wing's fixed-wing aircraft inventory. Table
1: The 89th Airlift Wing's Inventory of Fixed-Wing Aircraft
Number of Type Quantity
passengers Civilian aircraft variant VC-25A
2 76 Boeing 747 C-32
4 45 Boeing 757 C-20B
5 12 Gulfstream III C-20H
2 12 Gulfstream IV C-9C
3 42 Douglas DC-9 C-137
2a 52 or 61b Boeing 707 C-37
2 12 Gulfstream V aOne C-137 is
scheduled to be retired from the inventory in August 1999.
bPassenger loads vary due to aircraft configuration. Source: 89th
Airlift Wing. The two VC-25As are for the President's exclusive
use. However, the President also uses other aircraft as his
transportation needs dictate. When the President is on board any
of these aircraft, it is referred to as Air Force One. Other than
the VC-25As, 89th Airlift Wing aircraft are available for Page 2
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft B-282994 executive,
legislative, and judicial branch travel. The Office of the
Secretary of Defense (OSD) ranks missions in order of priority in
the event of a scheduling conflict according to (1) the lead
traveler's place on a DOD priority ranking list or (2) the
Secretary of Defense's determination as to the national interest
of the proposed mission. The 89th Airlift Wing's flight operations
are funded from annual appropriations to the Air Force's
Operations and Maintenance (O&M) account. The Air Mobility Command
manages the portion of the O&M account that funds the wing and
certain other operations. The wing reported that its overall
budget for fiscal year 1999, including O&M and other funds, is
about $356.9 million for flight operations, civilian and military
payrolls, and the medical group.1 DOD Has Been the Most
The 89th Airlift Wing completed 4,562 missions from January 1,
1993, Frequent User of the Wing through February 9, 1999.
Table 2 shows which government agencies used Since 1993
wing aircraft most frequently. Table 2: Usage of the 89th Airlift
Wing by Agency Percentage of total Agency
Number of missionsa missions DOD
1,979 43.4 White House
1,740 38.1 Congress
426 9.3 Department of State
245 5.4b Others
172 3.8 Total
4,562 100 aMany missions involved
numerous trip segments, but if the mission number did not change,
we considered it to be one mission. bIncludes missions ordered by
either the White House or the Department of State. Source: 89th
Airlift Wing. 1This includes base functions supporting non-89th
Airlift Wing tenant units at Andrews Air Force Base. Page 3
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft B-282994 Mission Request,
Approval, Request and approval procedures for missions vary
depending on the Scheduling, and users. Normally,
requests for trips directed by the President and approved
Reimbursement Processes by the White House are sent by
the White House Military Office directly to for the 89th Airlift
Wing the Air Force's Office of the Vice Chief of Staff,
Special Air Missions (hereafter referred to as the Office of
Special Air Missions) for scheduling. Members of Congress send
requests to OSD (Legislative Affairs) for approval. Executive
branch cabinet department and agency requests that are not
sponsored by the White House, as well as OSD agency requests, are
sent to OSD (Executive Secretary) for approval. OSD (Legislative
Affairs) and OSD (Executive Secretary) send approved requests to
the Office of Special Air Missions for scheduling. The military
services send approved requests directly to the Office of Special
Air Missions. After receiving approval notification, the Office of
Special Air Missions reviews the proposed mission data and
aircraft availability and then schedules the 89th Airlift Wing to
fly the mission. DOD officials explained that sometimes they
receive more approved requests for transportation than they have
aircraft available, which we called "scheduling conflicts." These
officials said the Office of Special Air Missions tries to resolve
scheduling conflicts in consultation with the affected customer by
(1) changing the departure date or time; (2) changing from the
requested aircraft to another aircraft; (3) changing passenger
requirements (for example, requesting that the passenger group be
reduced so that it can be accommodated by a smaller, available
aircraft); or (4) placing the customer on a non-89th Airlift Wing
aircraft. Air Force officials explained that if the Office of
Special Air Missions still cannot resolve the conflict, it refers
the matter to OSD (Executive Secretary) for resolution. OSD
(Executive Secretary) officials will then make a decision by
ranking the priority of travelers and usually scheduling the
mission of the lead traveler with the higher priority ranking.
However, at times, these officials stressed, the Secretary of
Defense may determine that a particular mission has a higher
national interest and may schedule that mission regardless of the
priority ranking of the lead traveler. DOD does not require that
records be kept showing when a conflict has occurred and how it
was resolved, and such records were not kept. Page 4
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft B-282994 Under the Economy Act
of 1932,2 DOD is required to collect reimbursements for the cost
of aircraft operations when it provides 89th Airlift Wing airlift
support to non-DOD agencies except when the support is at the
direction of the White House. Reimbursements fall into two
categories: agency reimbursements and nonofficial traveler
reimbursements. Agencies make reimbursements for wing support
through transfers of appropriated funds to DOD. White House and
White House-directed missions are nonreimbursable, and DOD funds
them. Other non-DOD executive branch missions are reimbursable,
and the agency is to pay the full cost of operating the aircraft.3
Prior to 1996, the Air Force's Air Mobility Command billed
agencies for reimbursements, collected them, and credited the
receipts to the Command's O&M account. In 1996, the Air Mobility
Command transferred the agency billing and reimbursement
responsibility to DOD's Defense Finance and Accounting Service
(DFAS). Thus, at the time of our review, DFAS did the billing and
collections and credited the receipts to the Air Mobility
Command's O&M account. On the other hand, 89th Airlift Wing users
may permit nonofficial travelers on their missions as provided by
OMB Circular A-126 and DOD Directive 4500.56. Nonofficial
passengers may join in the mission if (1) the aircraft was already
scheduled for an official purpose, (2) the addition of such
passengers does not require a larger aircraft, and (3) results in
a negligible increase in aircraft operating costs. The agencies
using the wing are also to collect travel costs from nonofficial
travelers at the rate of a commercial coach class ticket to the
destination traveled. For example, when the Secretary of Defense
permits nonofficial travelers to accompany him on DOD aircraft,
OSD (Personal Security) bills such travelers, except members of
the news media. OSD (Public Affairs) bills news media
representatives that accompany the Secretary of Defense on DOD
aircraft. These reimbursements are sent to DFAS to be credited to
the Air Mobility Command's O&M account. 231 U.S.C. 1535, 1536.
3We did not evaluate the data used to set reimbursement rates that
DOD charged non-DOD agencies for reimbursable 89th Airlift Wing
missions. However, in other unrelated work, DOD has acknowledged
fundamental problems in accumulating reliable cost information.
Page 5
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft B-282994 Policies Regarding Use
After our 1992 report, OMB, DOD, and the White House revised
policies and Management of the related to the 89th Airlift Wing,
strengthening the management and use of the wing. Among these
policies is OMB Circular A-126 (Improving the 89th Airlift Wing
Have Management and Use of Government Aircraft), a
primary governing Been Strengthened directive on
the use of military or other government aircraft by executive
branch officials. The 1989 version of the circular was in effect
at the time of our 1992 report, and we concluded that the circular
(1) inadequately defined key terms, (2) readily permitted
travelers to assert that commercial transportation was not
available, (3) did not require comparison of the cost of military
versus commercial transportation, (4) did not clearly specify when
nonofficial travelers should pay for their trips, and (5) did not
specify the extent to which compliance with these policies should
be documented and controlled. Table 3 displays the changes that we
recommended to the circular and the changes OMB made. Table 3:
Actions Responding to Our 1992 Recommendations AA 1992 GAO
recommendation OMB action Clearly define
key terms such as "official Defined "mission requirements" and
the business" and describe how, when, by purposes for
which the wing can be used. whom, and for what purposes the 89th
Airlift Defined "official travel." Wing should be used (or
alternatively, the Established criteria for designating a
purposes for which the 89th Airlift Wing government official
as a required user of should not be used).
government aircraft. Required users are officials who have a need
for 24-hour-a-day secure communications or unusual security
concerns and are thus allowed to use the 89th Airlift Wing for
all travel, including personal travel. Established the policy on
when nonofficial travelers may travel on wing aircraft. Provide
specific guidance on how travelers Established that commercial
service is should determine whether commercial
reasonably available if it can meet the aircraft services are
available. traveler's arrival or departure
requirements within a 24-hour period. Provide explicit guidance as
to when and Required a cost comparison unless the how
travelers are to make cost comparisons travel is by a required
user or to meet and when it may be permissible not to use mission
requirements, two reasons for the most cost-effective
transportation which the usually more expensive mode of
alternative. government air
transportation is permitted. Page 6
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft B-282994 1992 GAO
recommendation OMB action Clearly identify
the circumstances under Specified that nonofficial
travelers and which both official and nonofficial travelers
official travelers on nonofficial business should reimburse the
government for their must reimburse the government at the rate
travel and the appropriate amount to be of a coach class
air ticket to the destination reimbursed.
traveled and identified the circumstances under which
reimbursements are due. Clearly specify the extent to which
For each use of government aircraft, compliance with each of these
policies required that data on the aircraft tail should
be documented and controlled, number, the date(s) used,
the names of the where the documentation should be
pilot and flight crew, the purpose of the retained, and that
documentation should be flight, and the names of all passengers
be retained for at least 2 years after the date of retained for
at least 2 years. the trip. Source: GAO and OMB. Also, since
February 1993, the White House has revised at least three
memorandums that provide additional guidance on the use of DOD
aircraft. The latest memorandum, dated November 16, 1998,
specifies the terms under which non-DOD missions will be
designated as either nonreimbursable or reimbursable to DOD and
the criteria for making such decisions. White House support
missions are provided on a nonreimbursable basis and directly
support (1) the President, Vice President, and first family; (2)
immediate White House activities; and (3) missions directed by the
President. For travel done by cabinet and government officials not
on White House missions, use of DOD aircraft can be provided on a
reimbursable basis if all of the following four conditions are
met: (1) the travel is in the national interest, (2) DOD is fully
reimbursed by the using agency at the appropriate flying hour
rate, (3) the use of resources does not detract from the national
defense, and (4) a commercial enterprise cannot provide the
transportation as conveniently or cost-effectively. Finally, since
1992 DOD has issued at least four directives, memorandums, or
other guidance that affect the use of the wing. These documents,
among other things, implement the revised OMB circular, designate
certain DOD officials as required users, and emphasize that
military air travel is a premium mode of transportation involving
high costs and limited resources. For example, DOD Regulation
4515.13-R, Air Transportation Eligibility, issued in November
1994, specifies procedures and criteria for approving non-DOD
airlift missions. For DOD to approve these missions, the
regulation requires the requester to justify the purpose of the
travel, state why commercial service is not being used, and
indicate whether the proposed mission will be reimbursable or
nonreimbursable. Page 7
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft B-282994 We reviewed a sample
of mission requests that were reviewed by OSD (Executive
Secretary) and found that the justifications generally complied
with requirements outlined in OMB Circular A-126, the White House
memorandums, and DOD Regulation 4515.13-R regarding the use of
government aircraft. DOD Has Not
Implementation of policies over the billing and reimbursement
process for Collected 89th Airlift Wing
usage is inadequate. Problems included (1) a lack of agency
reimbursements to DOD for 89th Airlift Wing flights, (2) improper
crediting Reimbursements or of funds that were
reimbursed, (3) record-keeping that generally prevented Properly
Accounted for verification of transactions, and (4) inadequate
instructions on how staff Them are to
meet billing and reimbursement responsibilities. We identified
inadequate instructions as a problem in our 1992 report as well.
Some Agency DOD acknowledged that it had not
consistently collected agency Reimbursements Are
reimbursements due for reimbursable missions. On the basis of our
inquiry, 6 Years in Arrears DOD discovered that
reimbursements had not been collected for 63 missions flown by the
89th Airlift Wing, some occurring as long ago as 1993.4 We
estimated that DOD is owed about $1.9 million from non-DOD
agencies for the 63 reimbursable missions. No one independently
verified that all agency reimbursements due were actually
collected. Moreover, the Air Mobility Command was not aware that
any mission bills were in arrears, even though the funds are to be
credited to the Command's O&M account. The Air Force inquired into
the billing problem and by June 1999, DFAS had already sent bills
for most of the outstanding reimbursements. As of July 1999, DFAS
indicated that some reimbursements have been received. Also, at
the time of our review, the Office of Special Air Missions had
begun to develop a procedure to prevent a future recurrence of the
problem. The plan was still being developed at the time of this
report. 4Some agency reimbursements were collected between 1993
and 1996. Page 8
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft B-282994 Some Nonofficial
Traveler Agencies that permit nonofficial travelers, such as
news media Reimbursements Have Not representatives, on their
nonreimbursable 89th Airlift Wing missions are to Been Properly
Accounted bill such travelers and collect the
reimbursements. The Air Mobility for
Command reported that it had received about $7.9 million in both
agency and nonofficial passenger reimbursements in fiscal years
1993-98. While DOD has collected reimbursements for nonofficial
travel, DFAS officials have sometimes credited the wrong fiscal
year accounts. Agencies that have collected nonofficial traveler
reimbursements sent the funds to DFAS' Omaha Operating Location
for crediting to the proper Air Mobility Command fiscal year O&M
account. However, because the agencies did not notify DFAS of the
mission dates, DFAS had to rely on the agencies to specify the
fiscal year account into which to credit the funds. For example,
OSD (Public Affairs) collected and remitted reimbursements but was
unaware that the accounting code the office must report to DFAS
for proper funds handling also instructs DFAS which fiscal year
account the funds should be credited to. OSD (Public Affairs)
incorrectly instructed DFAS to credit the fiscal year 1997 account
with reimbursements for fiscal years 1998 and 1999 nonofficial
travel. As a result, DFAS credited at least $106,000 in
reimbursements for fiscal years 1998 and 1999 nonofficial travel
to the fiscal year 1997 account. The Economy Act requires
reimbursements to be credited to the agency appropriation or fund
used to provide service to another agency. Since the 89th Airlift
Wing's flight operations are funded with an annual O&M
appropriation, reimbursements must be credited to the appropriate
Air Force O&M account for the fiscal year in which the travel took
place. Thus, the fiscal year 1998 reimbursements should be
credited to the fiscal year 1998 account; fiscal year 1999
reimbursements should be credited to the fiscal year 1999 account.
Properly crediting these reimbursements to the current fiscal year
appropriation account allows the Air Mobility Command to use those
funds for a variety of O&M-based spending needs in the current
fiscal year. However, if DFAS inappropriately credits
reimbursements to a prior year account, the use of the funds is
unnecessarily restricted because they may then only be used toward
obligations incurred in that prior year. We found other errors as
well. For example, OSD (Public Affairs) instructed DFAS to credit
about $57,000 to the Air Mobility Command's O&M account for
nonofficial travelers that accompanied the Secretary of Defense on
four trips in 1998. However, these trips were taken on aircraft
operated by the Air Combat Command and assigned to the 55th Wing,
Offutt Page 9 GAO/NSIAD-
99-170 Military Aircraft B-282994 Air Force Base, Nebraska.
Therefore, the funds should have been credited to an Air Combat
Command account, not an Air Mobility Command account. No one
independently verified that all reimbursements were made. For
example, Air Mobility Command officials told us they have not
monitored DFAS billing and reimbursement operations and were
surprised when we brought to their attention the improper
crediting of some reimbursements. Moreover, DFAS has not received
passenger manifests from the 89th Airlift Wing, thus missing an
opportunity for independent verification that all nonofficial
traveler reimbursements due are actually collected. Transactions
Are Not We could not verify the receipt and crediting of
some nonofficial traveler Readily Verifiable
reimbursements because DFAS' record-keeping procedures do not
permit full verification of all transactions. DOD Directive
7000.14-R stipulates that accounting methods must permit
transactions to be traced for verification. However, DFAS
commingled numerous individual reimbursement checks on a single
cash collection voucher. While convenient, the practice undermines
effective management controls by preventing verification that all
transactions were properly completed. Due to the commingling of
individual reimbursement checks, we could not determine whether
DFAS properly processed all 89th Airlift Wing reimbursements from
nonofficial travelers. Billing Instructions Are At the time of
our review, the billing process through which DOD should
Inadequate have collected reimbursements from
non-DOD agencies for 89th Airlift Wing missions had stopped
functioning. DOD had not issued adequate billing instructions, but
the process worked to some extent prior to 1997 anyway, possibly
because experienced officials were in place. By 1997, the agency
billing process had come to a halt, possibly due to a lack of
adequate documentation of the process and some significant, nearly
simultaneous personnel changes. Moreover, OSD (Public Affairs)
similarly lacked adequate instructions on how its staff was to
handle the transactions and instruct DFAS where to credit the
funds, with the result that some funds were incorrectly credited.
We identified a similar lack of instructions in OSD (Public
Affairs) in 1992. Page 10
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft B-282994 Recommendation
We recommend that the Secretary of Defense document the
Department's billing and reimbursement process with written
instructions or other guidance and ensure that all DOD components
involved in the process comply with DOD accounting and financial
management requirements to record transactions in a manner that
permits verification of the proper handling of the funds. Agency
Comments and DOD and OMB provided written comments on a draft of
this report (see Our Evaluation apps. I and II).
DOD concurred with our recommendation and stated that it is
working to incorporate the reimbursement process into the proper
guidance. DOD also stated that DFAS was collecting overdue
reimbursements at the time of our report. OMB stated that the
report identifies some important weaknesses in the accounting and
collection of reimbursements for non-DOD use of 89th Airlift Wing
aircraft. In addition, DOD provided technical comments that we
incorporated as appropriate. Scope and
Because most of the missions flown by the 89th Airlift Wing are in
support Methodology of the executive branch, we
focused our analysis on the changes made to executive branch
guidance concerning the use of government-owned aircraft, such as
OMB Circular A-126 and other relevant DOD and White House
implementing guidance. To determine whether changes to executive
branch policies since 1992 addressed the intent of our
recommendations, we met with OMB officials and obtained the 1989
and 1992 versions of OMB Circular A-126, Improving the Management
and Use of Government Aircraft. We also met with officials from
OSD (Executive Secretary); OSD (Legislative Affairs); and the
Office of Special Air Missions, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air
Force, in Washington, D.C., and from the 89th Airlift Wing at
Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. These officials also provided us
with DOD or Air Force directives, guidance, policy statements,
mission request records, mission approval memorandums,
correspondence, and other documents. To determine how the policies
have changed since our April 1992 report, we compared versions of
the various guidance documents in force as of April 1992 with any
amendments or other changes since that time and characterized the
substance of the changes. To determine whether justifications for
wing usage complied with applicable policies, we interviewed the
same officials to determine the Page 11
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft B-282994 procedures they
followed to review 89th Airlift Wing mission requests. We reviewed
a sample of non-DOD reimbursable mission requests to determine
whether guidance and directives were adhered to in the review and
approval of these mission requests. We also met with officials
from the Office of the Secretary of State to determine the basis
on which that agency decided whether to use military or commercial
aircraft and the process they used to approve a request to DOD for
transportation support. To determine whether reimbursements for
89th Airlift Wing flights have been made, we met with officials
and obtained documents from organizations that are responsible for
key steps in the billing and reimbursement process. First, we met
with the Office of Special Air Missions and the 89th Airlift Wing
Comptroller. To determine how billing and reimbursements were
processed, we met with officials from DOD and Department of State
offices responsible for billing nonofficial passengers, including
OSD (Personal Security), OSD (Public Affairs), and the Office of
the Secretary of State. We also obtained billing records,
documents showing reimbursement checks received from parties
billed, cash collection vouchers, transmittal documents showing
fund transfers to DFAS, and other documents. We compared a sample
of passenger manifests from 89th Airlift Wing missions with bills
or check receipts to determine whether nonofficial passengers had
been billed and reimbursements had been made to DOD for the
missions, as required by OMB Circular A-126 and other guidance. To
determine whether DFAS or the Air Mobility Command had sent bills
and collected reimbursements for agency missions, we obtained 89th
Airlift Wing flight records and compared them with agency mission
requests to determine which missions were reimbursable. We also
met with officials at DFAS' Omaha Operating Location in Nebraska
to discuss the billing and reimbursement process and obtained
guidance on handling billings and reimbursements. To determine
whether bills had been sent and reimbursements collected, we
obtained billing records, cash collection vouchers, copies of
checks, deposit records, and other documents. Finally, we met with
officials from the Air Mobility Command in Illinois to determine
how they monitored the billing and reimbursement process and
verified that funds deposited by DFAS were credited to the proper
Air Mobility Command accounts. We also verified DFAS records as we
deemed necessary. We did not evaluate the data used to set
reimbursement rates that DOD charged non-DOD agencies traveling on
reimbursable 89th Airlift Wing missions. Page 12
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft B-282994 To provide the
background information showing which agencies of the government
were the most frequent users of the 89th Airlift Wing, we obtained
flight records showing every 89th Airlift Wing mission between
January 1, 1993, and February 8, 1999. We counted as White House
missions all missions for which the flight records indicated that
the White House was the sponsoring agency. Thus, we counted as
White House missions those for which the President traveled or
other departments' or agencies' officials traveled at the
President's direction except State Department missions, which we
identified separately whether or not they were presidentially
directed. We did not review the use of helicopters in the 89th
Airlift Wing's inventory. We conducted our work from January to
July 1999 in accordance with generally accepted government
auditing standards. We will send copies of this report to
interested congressional committees; Mr. John Podesta, the White
House Chief of Staff, Executive Office of the President; the
Honorable William S. Cohen, the Secretary of Defense; the
Honorable Louis Caldera, the Secretary of the Army; the Honorable
Richard Danzig, the Secretary of the Navy; the Honorable F.
Whitten Peters, the Secretary of the Air Force; the Honorable
Madeleine K. Albright, the Secretary of State; and the Honorable
Jacob J. Lew, Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Please contact me at (202) 512-5140 if you or your staff have any
questions about this report. Other key contributors on this
assignment are listed in appendix III. Sincerely yours, Mark E.
Gebicke Director, National Security Preparedness Issues Page 13
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft Contents Letter
1 Appendix I
16 Comments From the Department of Defense Appendix II
17 Comments From the Office of Management and Budget Appendix III
18 GAO Staff Acknowledgments Related Products
20 Tables Table 1: The 89th Airlift Wing's
Inventory of Fixed-Wing Aircraft 2 Table 2: Usage
of the 89th Airlift Wing by Agency
3 Table 3: Actions Responding to Our 1992 Recommendations
6 Abbreviations DFAS Defense Finance and Accounting Service
DOD Department of Defense O&M Operations and
Maintenance OMB Office of Management and Budget OSD
Office of the Secretary of Defense Page 14
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft Page 15 GAO/NSIAD-99-170
Military Aircraft Appendix I Comments From the Department of
Defense Appendix I Page 16 GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military
Aircraft Appendix II Comments From the Office of Management and
Budget
Appendix I I Page 17 GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft
Appendix III GAO Staff Acknowledgments
Append Iix I I Acknowledgments Carol R. Schuster, William M.
Solis, Brian J. Lepore, Andrew D. Crawford, and Arthur L. James,
Jr., made key contributions to this report. Page 18
GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft Page 19 GAO/NSIAD-99-170
Military Aircraft Related Products Government Aircraft
Travel of Government Officials on Government Aircraft (GAO/T-
NSIAD-96-85, Dec. 29, 1995). Government Aircraft: Observations on
Travel by Senior Officials (GAO/NSIAD-95-168BR, June 5, 1995).
Military Aircraft: Travel on 89th Military Airlift Wing and Travel
by Selected Officials (GAO/T-NSIAD-92-35, Apr. 30, 1992). Military
Aircraft: Policies on Government Officials' Use of 89th Military
Airlift Wing Aircraft (GAO/NSIAD-92-133, Apr. 9, 1992). Military
Aircraft: Travel by Selected Executive Branch Officials (GAO/AFMD-
92-51, Apr. 7, 1992). Department of Defense Financial Management:
Profile of Defense Finance and Accounting Service Financial
Operations Financial Managers (GAO/AIMD-98-133, May 28,
1998). Financial Management: An Overview of Finance and Accounting
Activities in DOD (GAO/NSIAD/AIMD-97-61, Feb. 19, 1997). High Risk
Series: Defense Financial Management (GAO/HR-97-3, Feb. 1, 1997).
DOD Infrastructure: DOD's Planned Finance and Accounting Structure
Is Not Well Justified (GAO/NSIAD-95-127, Sept. 18, 1995). (703258)
Letter Page 20
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