The U.S. Army mismanaged equipment stockpiles for U.S. Central Command, according to a recent Department of Defense Inspector General audit.
The Army failed to properly maintain Force Provider modules, which are prepositioned “tent cities” that comprise 24 to 32 shipping containers packed with materials to erect housing, kitchen and other facilities, said the DOD IG report. Force Provider modules are deployed at four locations around the world, including the CENTCOM region.
Army officials “did not effectively manage FP module COSIS [Care of Supplies in Storage] maintenance and storage requirements,” concluded the heavily redacted report. In particular, auditors faulted the Integrated Logistics Support Center at the Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command, or TACOM ILSC, for not adequately managing or training contractors who were supposed to maintain the modules.
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The issue appears to have begun in 2016, when the Army awarded a $23.8 million contract to an unidentified company to maintain the Force Provider modules. In 2020, the Army transferred responsibility for maintaining the modules to another entity, but “did not specifically add maintenance requirements for FP modules until April 2024,” the DOD IG said.
Troops in the field began complaining about broken equipment. For example, in 2022, units reported that they received Force Provider containers with ripped tents and inoperable generators, laundry equipment and showers, according to the report.
“Had [name redacted] separately accounted for those items that require maintenance and required the contractor to perform maintenance at the appropriate intervals, the defective equipment would have been identified before issuance,” auditors said.
One issue may have been confusion over requirements for inspecting equipment stored outdoors versus indoors. For example, during a training event in June 2024, TACOM’s Integrated Logistics Support Center “instructed [redacted] officials to protect FP modules and add-on kits from the open storage environmental elements by keeping the FP containers at least 6 to 8 inches above the desert ground,” the report said. However, the actual maintenance plan did not include “any requirements to protect FP modules from outdoor elements.”
TACOM also failed to ensure that contractors were adequately trained to maintain stockpiles. Containers need to be opened carefully to avoid degrading the equipment inside, yet the “FP maintenance training requirement is not documented to ensure storage site personnel are aware of the need for the required TACOM ILSC training” to properly preserve FP modules before opening the containers, the DOD IG found. Meanwhile, with a new contractor now becoming responsible for maintaining the modules, auditors worry that qualified personnel could be rotated out before new personnel are trained.
Compounding the problem is that different types of equipment require different levels of maintenance. Yet the audit revealed that contractors did not separately account for items such as skid steers — which require regular maintenance — under requirements set by the Global Combat Support System-Army, or GCSS-A, logistics management system. Thus, “for more than four years, officials did not properly account for FP module components that require maintenance,” including generators and skid steers. The reason was that “TACOM ILSC officials instructed [redacted] to account for all components that comprise a FP module or add-on kit as one line item.”
Failing to account for individual items in GCSS-A can have grave consequences when equipment is needed. For instance, the report notes, Army personnel needed fully mission-capable ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Army G-4 officials. Yet, the Army lacked visibility of its ventilator inventory because some were included in medical kits and “not accounted for separately in GCSS-Army,” according to the report.
The DOD IG audit recommended that TACOM’s Integrated Logistics Support Center update the 2011 Force Provider Care of Supplies in Storage plan, including “environmental storage and maintenance requirements specific to outdoor storage yards, providing definitive maintenance intervals and ensuring inclusion of all Force Provider module components and add-on kits.” In addition, the plan should also specify ILSC’s responsibilities to conduct training in Force Provider module maintenance.