A DOT Inspector General report released late last week found that the FAA “lacks sufficient oversight controls for managing its National Airspace System (NAS) parts inventory and continues to maintain excessive quantities of old and unserviceable parts.”
The report claims this alleged lack of oversight occurred partly “because the FAA lost automatic functionality for monitoring excess inventory levels after it transitioned to a new inventory management system” starting in 2016. “The transition also impacted the FAA’s ability to track excess, obsolete, or unserviceable items to final disposition and monitor exchange and repair parts shipped to and from the field.” Furthermore, the FAA faces about $1 million in quantity discrepancies, the DOT IG said.
Of the DOT IG’s seven recommendations, the FAA concurred with six. The agency partially concurred with one recommendation and provided an alternative action but did not describe the action it will take if parts are not returned or the effect of unreturned parts on financial statements. “Therefore, we consider that recommendation open and unresolved,” the report concluded.
The FAA’s NAS inventory is valued at $735 million, and each year the agency ships and receives approximately 200,000 parts to/from FAA field offices and other domestic and international customers.