The Government Accountability Office has called on the Defense Department to leverage existing supplier information from program offices in order to meet the requirement for a repository of supplier data needed to assess potential risks to the defense industrial base.

GAO said in a report published Wednesday that DoD should ensure a workforce mix of contractors and government personnel with the required skills and capabilities in order to facilitate access to business-sensitive information necessary to develop the data repository for risk analysis.

The agency made the recommendation after it found that the Pentagon’s manufacturing and industrial base policy office relies on contractors who have limited access to such sensitive data.

The report cited obsolete items, disaster-damaged facilities, loss of equipment or skills, limited production capacity, financial viability of suppliers and foreign dependence as some of the risks to the industrial base.

The congressional watchdog reviewed 33 completed investment projects between fiscal years 2014 and 2017 and found that MIBP’s investment programs chose those projects to help maintain current suppliers; build up efficient production processes; and create new domestic sources of supply.

The Naval Air Systems Command will create guidelines for the allocation of fiscal year 2018 funds for the upgrade of facilities at Fleet Readiness Centers.

Vice Adm. Dean Peters, commander of NAVAIR, told the U.S. Naval Institute the command will initially conduct a baseline assessment of some 800 critical components that average 25 years at three FRC locations, USNI said Thursday.

He noted that the locations are the FRC East at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, FRC Southeast at Naval Air Station Jacksonville and FRC Southwest at Naval Air Station North Island.

FRC East uses a 50-year-old water tower for T-64 engine nozzle qualifications, FRC Southeast has an avionics maintenance facility without air conditioning and FRC Southwest uses an environment control ventilation system that fails once a week.

The command will also baseline 71,000 pieces of equipment across the depots, whose average age is 58 years, for the facilities modernization plan, Peters added.

Augmentation of the FY 2018 funds helped NAVAIR repair the equipment for critical test and support at the three depots and will allow the command to enhance the overhaul operations of the FRCs, Peters said at a hearing of the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee.

In FY 2017, the FRCs completed 485 of 487 aircraft such as F/A-18A-D Hornets and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.

Lt. Gen. Gwen Bingham, assistant chief of staff for installation management at the U.S. Army, has said the service branch looks to implement cloud computing, big data analytics and artificial intelligence technologies to help increase operational efficiency at installations.

Bingham oversees policies, resources and resources for the Army’s installation services and infrastructure, the service branch said Wednesday.

She said at the Association of the U.S. Army Institute of Land Warfare’s breakfast event Tuesday the ACSIM office aims to continue investing in construction, restoration and modernization projects that will support force readiness efforts.

“Let’s imagine for a moment the use of artificial intelligence and other smart cities’ technologies such as autonomous vehicles for transportation on a post, camp, station, or installation,” Bingham told audience during her keynote speech.

“Imagine being able to use and analyze big data so that you could look at a building and be able to predict when it was going to need repairs.”

She intends to collaborate with Jordan Gillis, assistant secretary of for installations, energy and environment at the Army, to implement physical security technology at multiple Army facilities in the next 12 to 18 months as part of a pilot program.

Bigham added her office seeks to partner with the private sector to drive transformation efforts meant to help the service branch modernize its force.