Cost of War Data for Marine Corps Contingency Operations Were Not Reliable

The Inspector General, Department of Defense IGDoD, determined whether Marine Corps officials accurately reported FY 2008 Overseas Contingency Operation OCO costs in the DoD Cost of War Report and whether documentation substantiated operation and maintenance obligations and deobligations. Marine Corps officials did not always support or accurately report FY 2008 OCO costs. Based on our sample results, we project that Marine Corps officials properly supported 179 transactions, valued at approximately 2.27 billion, and partially supported 14 other transactions valued at approximately 204 million. However, our projections also show that they could not provide sufficient documentation to support 86 transactions, valued at approximately 1.82 billion. We also project that Marine Corps officials inaccurately entered financial coding that resulted in approximately 58 million and another 1.36 billion not being reported under the correct operation or cost category, respectively. Furthermore, we project that Marine Corps officials incorrectly reported approximately 40 million as OCO costs despite those costs not supporting OCO. Costs were not always supported and accurately reported because Marine Corps officials had not developed command-level procedures to implement existing DoD and Marine Corps policies and reporting requirements. In addition, Headquarters Marine Corps officials did not hold fund managers accountable for the accuracy of data. As a result, DoD provided Members of Congress and other decision makers unreliable data. Also, portions of the FY 2008 Marine Corps operation and maintenance obligations reported on the DoD Cost of War Report did not reflect how funds were actually spent. In FY 2011, OCO-related data continued to be reported using the Cost of War Report, so the need for accurate data remains critical to decision makers.