United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office National Security and International Affairs Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-07-31 monographic deposited born digital 39 p. GA 1.13:NSIAD-00-123 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-123 P0b002ee1803a03d1 f:ns00123 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-123 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-123 NSIAD-00-123 Military procurement Prices and pricing Spare parts Comparative analysis Letter Report NSIAD Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the increasing prices of Marine Corps spare parts, focusing on: (1) changes in the prices of reparable parts compared with the prices of similar items in the private sector and the reasons for the price changes; and (2) the accuracy of prices set by the Marine Corps.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) prices of the 703 parts GAO examined increased by an average of about 14 percent over the 4-year period from fiscal year 1995 through 1999, while prices for similar items sold in the private sector dropped by 0.2 percent over the same period; (2) prices for these 703 parts fluctuated during this 4-year period, dropping by about 10 percent during the first 2 years and increasing by about 27 percent during the last 2 years; (3) prices of the 313 parts sold to customers followed the same pricing pattern; (4) the major cause of the sharp price increase during the latter years was increases in surcharge rates; (5) the cost of procuring the parts from suppliers influenced the price of only 26 parts; (6) the Marine Corps did not follow the Department of Defense pricing regulations in setting prices and, as a result, the prices of most parts sold to Marine Corps customers were not correct; (7) in particular, the approach used to adjust prices of repaired parts from year to year was not consistent with Defense regulations; (8) the Marine Corps' approach led to wider price fluctuations than the approach called for in Defense pricing regulations; (9) moreover, prices for many parts were higher than they would have been had repair costs been used to set prices; (10) mathematical and computer program errors were also made; (11) these problems contributed to the Marine Corps having an accumulated gain of about $48 million from the sale of spare parts at the end of fiscal year 1999; and (12) Defense policy requires revolving funds to operate with the long-term objective of breaking even. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-123/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-123.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-123/pdf/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-123.pdf GAO/NSIAD-00-123 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-123 Letter Report GAO/NSIAD-00-123; Defense Acquisitions: Prices of Marine Corps Spare Parts; Military procurement Prices and pricing Spare parts Comparative analysis