Book Description

The Defense Contract Management Command (the Command) personnel involved in quality assurance oversight represent nearly 35 percent of the Command's contract administration workforce. As of October 1994, the Command employed 5,567 quality assurance specialists, at a cost of $295.2 million. Since 1991, the Command has reduced the number of quality assurance specialists about 22 percent from the 1991 total of 7,125. Since 1990, the Command has attempted to convert to process-oriented quality assurance through the In-Plant Quality Evaluation program, and more recently in 1994, by implementing the Process Oriented Contract Administration Services program. Process Oriented Contract Administration Services methodology and teaming concepts are not consistent with, and present problems for, the traditional methods the Command uses to determine personnel levels. Resourcing quality assurance personnel needs is a problem made more difficult by the cultural organizational changes presented by the new program. Our primary audit objectives were to evaluate the Command's policies and procedures for managing quality assurance resources and the bases for determining appropriate personnel levels. Additionally, we were to evaluate compliance with previous audit recommendations and applicable internal controls. We eliminated the announced audit objective to evaluate the success of programs for training quality assurance personnel because of time constraints.