The Army’s vehicle programs are not following a consistent
policy in the way they allocate maintenance and repair work, said
Maj. Gen. N. Ross Thompson III, head of the Army Tank-Automotive
and Armaments Command.
This is a problem, he said, because a lot of the repair work that
should be sent to the Army’s organic depots is outsourced
to contractors, thus making the depots less efficient and more costly
to operate.
“We have an industrial base problem,” Thompson said
at an industry conference. “Once a vehicle is fielded, most
of the work needs to be done in the organic base.”
During an interview, Thompson explained that program managers for
various vehicles often have set up partnerships with preferred suppliers
to do repair work and vehicle overhaul. But that is not a good way
to do business, he said, because it fails to consider the “holistic
picture of the Army, not just individual program decisions.”
Many program managers, said Thompson, “don’t take a
view of Army capacity, so there is wasted capacity. We need to raise
the visibility of Army organic capabilities. Individual programs
take a narrow view.”
Asked how he would go about changing the current way of doing business,
Thompson noted that his organization, TACOM, is the head contracting
agency. “We may or may not approve certain contracts,”
he said, if they fail to comply with sound “make or buy”
policy.
Such policy has been in place in the Army for many years, but “so
far has not been executed very well,” said Thompson. “TACOM
can help enforce the policy.” Every program manager, he added,
gets “carte blanche to develop their own support system, because
they don’t get guidance from the top.”
Among the upcoming projects that will test the make-or-buy policy
is the remanufacturing of 4,300 Humvees between 2003 and 2007.
The Army budgeted $25,000 for each truck, to replace key components
in older Humvees and extend the life of the vehicle. Officials said
it’s likely that the work will be done at the Army’s
Red River Depot, in Texas.