Acquisition of the Palletized Load System

The Palletized Load System (PLS), a nondevelopmental item configured to meet the Army's required operational land transportation capabilities, is a highly mobile, diesel-powered, 16.5-ton truck with all-wheel drive capability. Its 16.5-ton capacity offered the Army an opportunity to improve the efficiency of ammunition distribution through reductions in personnel and equipment. Also, the PLS was designed to load or unload its cargo on demountable flatracks in less than I minute. The PLS, an integral part of the Army's Maneuver Oriented Ammunition Distribution System, will be assigned to Transportation, Ordnance, and Field Artillery units. As of September 30, 1990, the Army PLS program was estimated at $1.4 billion. The audit's overall objective was to evaluate the program management of the PLS from the standpoint of economy, efficiency, and effectiveness to determine whether the system was being adequately readied for production and deployment. The audit also included a review of the adequacy and sufficiency of internal controls related to the audit objective. The Army had not accurately quantified the acquisition requirements for the PLS program and had not determined the cost-effectiveness of all planned uses of the PLS. As a result, the acquisition requirements were misstated by about $653.8 million. Also, the Army could unnecessarily spend at least $279.8 million by using the PLS to support the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) units. Internal controls were inadequate to ensure that the Army accurately developed quantitative acquisition requirements for the PLS. Additionally, controls to determine whether planned uses of the PLS were cost-effective were not sufficient to protect DoD's interest.