Book Description
This is the first of two reports addressing total asset visibility. This report discusses the effectiveness of the DoD Total Asset Visibility Program as it relates to the Government Performance and Results Act Performance Measure 2.3.5, "Visibility and Accessibility of DoD Materiel Assets." A second report will discuss the effectiveness of the Joint Total Asset Visibility Program. The DoD Total Asset Visibility Program, managed by the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Logistics and Materiel Readiness), was an initiative aimed at achieving visibility over 100 percent of DoD materiel assets. The goal of the DoD Total Asset Visibility Program was to provide DoD users with timely, accurate information on the location, movement, status, and identity of military assets 1 and the capability to perform transactions using that information. The DoD Total Asset Visibility capability was developed in large part by integrating existing and evolving business systems employed by the Services and the Defense Logistics Agency. Visibility of assets has been a concern for the Services for many years. Lessons learned from Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm brought out the seriousness of the problem. During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the responsiveness of the logistics system was degraded by thousands of duplicate orders placed because operational units had inadequate visibility over the status of their requisitions, particularly for critical items. Moreover, an enormous amount of materiel was shipped to the theater but was not readily available to U.S. forces because of poor control and visibility of the assets.