Army Logistics: Status of Proposed Support Plan for Apache Helicopter: NSIAD-99-140.

The Pentagon has embarked on a strategy to reengineer its logistics support for weapon systems by relying more on the private sector. The military has selected the Apache AH-64 helicopter as a pilot for implementing this new strategy. At the same time, the Army has been considering a logistics support concept called prime vendor support for the Apache. Prime vendor support is a contractor's proposal to use commercial practices to reengineer logistics support, improve readiness, reduce life-cycle costs, and provide savings that can be used to modernize the helicopter. The program will rely on private-sector capital to upgrade Apache components and to manage the parts pipeline. DOD is prohibited from entering into a prime vendor contract for depot maintenance and repair of a weapons system until 30 days after the military submits a report to Congress describing the competitive procedures used to select the awardee and provides a cost analysis that shows the savings to the government over the life of the contract. This report determines the status of the Apache prime vendor support proposals. GAO discusses the evolution of the prime vendor support concept and the financial and operational issues that have been raised over whether the Army should implement the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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