The News Tribune – Ejército reduce las existencias de piezas de Stryker obsoletos en el almacén local

  El Ejército de EEUU anuncia que redujo en cientos de millones el depósito de repuestos para el Stryker (vehículo 8×8). Diversos informes del Inspector General del Departamento de Defensa realizados en los años 2012 y 2013 determinaron que existían casi 900 millones dólares en repuestos en un almacén del Gobierno sin que al parecer, figuraran en la base de datos de equipos militares, tal y como se publicó en 2013.

  Los tres informes del Inspector General «escudriñan los contratos que el Ejercito firmó con General Dynamics para el mantenimiento del Stryker», la máquina de ocho ruedas usada en Iraq y Afganistán. 1500 millores de dólares gastados en mantenimiento y en donde el informe sugiere que «General Dynamics tenía pocos incentivos para mantener los costes bajos».

  Otra observación del informe hace referencia al almacenamiento de equipos obsoletos de infrarrojos por 57 millones de dólares, los 9179 engranajes almacenados que al ritmo de salida en forma de repuestos, garantiza el suministro durante 1147 años, o los frenos de mano izquierdos capaces de abastecer de repuestos a los vehículos durante 923 años.

  El almacén de Auburn es propiedad del Gobierno y lo gestiona General Dynamics, la cual obtuvo de los militares un contrato sin licitación para el mantenimiento de los Stryker. Las «deficiencias» en la gestión llevó a suministrar piezas regularmente que nunca tendrían uso, para las diecisiete versiones del vehículo.

  Se menciona que «los libros de los repuestos están apilados en una especie de inframundo contable militar«. Ni la Oficina de Gestión de Proyectos del Ejército en Michigan ni el fabricante General Dynamics consideraban de su propiedad los equipos una vez entregados en Auburn, creyendo respectivamente que la contabilidad era responsabilidad de la otra parte.

LOS INFORMES del Inspector General – United States Departament of Defense

30-11-2012 Accountability Was Missing
for Government Property Procured on the
Army’s Services Contract for Logistics
Support of Stryker Vehicles

18-06-2012 Better Cost-Control Measures Are Needed
on the Army’s Cost-Reimbursable Services
Contract for Logistics Support of Stryker
Vehicles

16-07-2013  DOD Oversight Improvements Are Needed on the
Contractor Accounting System for the Army’s
Cost-Reimbursable Stryker Logistics Support Contract

Ver noticia

POR ADAM ASHTON  27 de septiembre 2014

An Army stockpile of obsolete Stryker parts in South King County, once valued in the tens of millions of dollars, is almost gone, according to a report obtained by The News Tribune.

The Army shed much of the excess parts in the two years since a Defense Department Inspector General report drew attention to lapses in oversight. An investigation in 2012-13 found about $892 million worth of replacement gear was allowed to accumulate at a government warehouse in Auburn without being entered into a military equipment database.

Now, the Army says it has $625 million worth of usable equipment in Auburn and about $7.5 million worth of obsolete parts. The Army has eliminated about $100 million worth of unusable Stryker gear since 2011, said Ashley Givens, a spokeswoman for the Stryker program.

Secretary of the Army John McHugh forwarded the update on the Stryker program to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees in April to fulfill a provision in this year’s defense budget that demanded a report on the status of the Stryker warehouse.

“The Army has made strong progress on implementing the Department of Defense Inspector General’s recommendations and reducing the amount of unusable parts remaining in the Auburn warehouse,” McHugh wrote. “The Army will continue to work diligently until all of these matters are satisfactorily addressed.”

The Inspector General in 2012 and 2013 published three reports scrutinizing contracts the Army signed with Stryker manufacturer General Dynamics to keep the eight-wheeled machines running through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Stryker was developed just before the wars began, and it was modified several times during the conflicts. In some cases this led to the accumulation of unusable parts as requirements changed for newer models.

The Inspector General reports centered on the Army’s last $1.5 billion maintenance contract it awarded General Dynamics to keep up the Army’s fleet of Strykers through 2013. One report suggested the Army overspent on the contract because General Dynamics had little incentive to keep costs low.

The investigation that focused on the warehouse said the Army failed to monitor its supply of Stryker parts as it would other military vehicles. The Army incorrectly considered the equipment to be General Dynamics’ responsibility once it entered the warehouse, while General Dynamics thought it was the Army’s.

As a result, the Army did not know how much gear it had at the Auburn facility. General Dynamics estimated the value at just short of $900 million after the Inspector General requested a number. The report also identified at least $85.1 million worth of obsolete, high-value parts.

Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., wrote the amendment that required the Army to say what it did with the parts. McHugh’s update said the Army now has the Stryker parts in its proper accounting system.

Givens said the Army eliminated obsolete parts by disposing of them or turning them over to programs that could use them. She said the Stryker program typically uses more than $100 million worth of parts each year.

Strykers are the signature Army vehicles at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and are the foundation of the base’s Stryker brigades. They started arriving in 2001 as part of an effort to give the Army a rapidly deployable, medium-weight infantry carrier. It was a popular vehicle for commanders in the Iraq War because it could quickly deliver up to a dozen soldiers to hotspots almost anywhere in the country.

General Dynamics developed a heavier, blast-resistant version of the Stryker in 2010 that was meant to deter risks soldiers faced in Afghanistan. The changes were credited with saving lives in that war. The defense manufacturer now has a contract to upgrade original “flat bottom” Strykers into the better-protected “double-v hull” model.