The Defense Department has moved to form a strategy that would define objectives to support collaboration and integration across DoD, as part of the requirements under section 911 of the fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.
The Government Accountability Office said Friday DoD expects to complete the development of its organizational strategy by Sept. 1.
Section 911 also requires DoD to train officials within the office of the secretary of defense, who were appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, as well as award a contract to study practices for cross-functional teams.
DoD officials told GAO that the department plans to use existing approaches and establish additional methods to train OSD officials on leadership, organizational practice, collaboration and operation of cross-functional teams within three months of appointment.
The department issued a contract to explore leading practices for cross-functional teams on June 9, which is past the March 15 deadline set by section 911, according to the government watchdog agency.
Officials reported that DoD did not have enough funds to award the contract by the required date due to a delay in the passage of a defense appropriations bill for FY 2017.
DoD aims to submit results of the study to Congress in August.
