Hill still facing inventory problems

Inspectors decided to see if Hill Air Force base truly fixed, as promised, inventory tracking problems that could allow easy theft of tools and recreation equipment. They also checked for the first time whether tracking of computer equipment there is adequate.

The inspectors found the old inventory problems had not disappeared, but some valuable equipment may have. And some new problems were discovered, too.

Among the findings were:

• $2.6 million worth of computer equipment on base could not be located. Meanwhile, many new computers had sat so long in warehouses that warranties purchased for them had expired before they were ever taken out of the box.

• The office that rents recreational equipment to Hill employees failed to list 18 all-terrain vehicles on formal inventories (so, if stolen, no one might realize they were missing). Also, 84 pairs of skis listed on inventories were missing — but another 101 pairs of skis were present that had not been listed on inventories.

• Boxes of usable tools were set aside for disposal along with boxes of broken and worn-out tools, while inventories failed to track exactly what was being disposed. And many tools listed as broken but that had lifetime replacement warranties had disappeared before they were replaced.

"Overall, management actions did not correct the discrepancies identified in the previous audit," inspectors wrote in one of the follow-up reports about earlier problems that had not been fixed after all.

That is according to several Air Force Audit Agency reports — completed in December, January and February — that were obtained by the Deseret Morning News through a Freedom of Information Act request.

In response, Hill officials said steps have been taken now that should truly fix the inventory problems for good. Also, they said the base has since found many of the items said to be missing, and is still looking for more.

Inspectors had looked six years ago at similar problems with tools and recreation equipment, and had made several recommendations then to fix them (as reported at the time by the Morning News). They found now that most of those recommendations had never been truly implemented.

For example, it said the Outdoor Recreation office still did not maintain accurate inventory listings of all the items it rents to employees, and still failed to mark all the equipment with identification numbers.