While Title 10 USC 31 and 40 provide the statutory foundation and framework for financial and property management, DoD Instruction (DoDI) 5000.64:  Accountability and Management of DoD Equipment and other Accountable Property, and DoD Financial Management Regulations (FMR) outline requirements associated with these foundational accountability and management issues. In addition, Army Regulation (AR) 710-2: Supply Policy Below the National Level,  identifies DPAS as “…a DOD Deputy Secretary of Defense mandated property accounting system for enabling integrated logistic and financial accounting required by the Chief Financial Officer’s (CFO) act.” 

As reflected within statute, policies, and regulations, financial management and property management intersect in impactful ways for the Department. Reinforcing that point, the General Accounting Office’s (GAO) 2019 high risk series report included financial management among several federal government areas of focus. According to the report, the DoD Inspector General (DoD IG) “…also reported 20 material weaknesses in internal control across the department, contributing to its disclaimer of opinion. Some of these—such as an inability to account for its property and equipment—are examples of long-standing weaknesses that DOD has been unable to address.” Further, the DoD OIG reported on several findings and recommendations regarding inventory and related property that could have operational impacts for DoD. For example, the auditor found the following: "107 rotor blades for Blackhawk helicopters that could not be used but remained on the inventory records; 24 Gyro Electronics for military aircraft that should not be used but remained in the inventory records; and 20 fuel injector assemblies for Blackhawk helicopters did not have supporting documentation to demonstrate which military service owned them.”

Despite the Department receiving a disclaimer of opinion for the FY2018 DoD IG Financial audit, DPAS received an unmodified opinion. As the Department responds to FY2018 and FY2019 GAO and DoD IG Audit findings and recommendations, expanded utilization of enterprise-level applications, such as DPAS, may serve to drive improvements in government property management (held organically or by contractors) financial management for DoD Components and agencies.

In accordance with the DPAS Program Office webpage, the DPAS Program is a state of the art web-based, CAC-enabled system that provides the Department three distinct functions:

Property Accountability -  DPAS is a fully compliant and audited APSR. In addition to fulfilling the requirements for property accountability, DPAS provides the ability to:

1. Calculate and transmit accounting transactions to the Financial Accounting Systems;
2. Manage Work in Progress to include interfaces to collect expense data and creation of the completed asset in the property book. This can be utilized for software development, shipbuilding and even construction of real property;
3. Integrated with the Wide Area Workflow (WAWF) system to provide:
   • New receipts to be received from WAWF
   • Asset transfers from DoD organizations
   • Asset transfers to contractors as Government Furnished Property (GFP)
   • Asset rransfers from Contractors to return GFP
4. Manage software licenses and the assets the software is installed;
5. Manage warranties and identify the assets associated with the warranty;
6. Integrated with the Item Unique Item Registry (IUID) Registry to update all life cycle events for assets;
7. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging and reading capabilities to include the ability to utilize Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) to locate and map assets;
8. Use of hand-held devices to perform Inventories, asset relocation and UII associations.

Maintenance and Utilization Tracking - DPAS was designed to manage maintenance and usage of assets in an organization. The module can be utilized for just about any asset, copiers for maintenance and number of copies tracking, vehicles for maintenance and miles tracking, firearms for rounds fired and test equipment for calibration and usage management. It is integrated with the Property Accountability module and the Warehouse Module to eliminate the need to continually enter the pedigree data (serial number, UII, part number, etc.) of assets. Specific capabilities include:

1. Creation of Preventive Maintenance (PM) schedules;
2. Dispatch log to manage requests for assets and identification of the user;
3. Tracking of operator or technician certifications/licenses;
4. Comprehensive work order tracking system to include sub-work orders if it is necessary to send an asset to a secondary facility for action;
5. Creation of work plans to identify actions required for the work oOrder. The work plans can be as generic (e.g., change oil) or as detailed (e.g., open hood, remove oil plug, allow oil to drain, etc.) as the user wishes;
6. Warranty tracking to include automated notification of existing warranty before work commences;
7. Utilization tracking by hours, miles, days, eaches (rounds fired, copies made, etc.);
8. Automated reporting for General Services Administration (GSA) vehicles usage to the Federal Automotive Statistical Tool (FAST);
9. Automated upload of utilization data via electronic means, spreadsheet or system integration.

Warehouse Management -  The warehouse module permits the management of any asset in a storage/warehouse facility. This could include a tool crib, supply closet, repair/spare parts or shipping and receiving facilities. The module was developed to provide functionality for the issuance of Individual Combat Equipment (ICE) and more typical warehouse operations. DPAS functionality includes:

1. Create pick list that are either downloaded to a hand held device or printed for collection of assets to fill a requirement;
2. Management of Set, Kit and Outfit (SKO) creation to include:
   • Identification if sufficient inventory is on hand to create the requested quantity of SKOs;
   • Creating pick lists for the required elements for the SKOs;
   • Automated reduction of parts inventory and increase in quantities of SKOs when the creation is complete.
3. Tracking of containers so multiple assets can be placed in a container and moved as one entity;
4. Issue assets to Individuals when assets need to be returned;
5. Production of DD 1348 when assets are transferred or shipped;
6. Integrated with the WAWF system to provide:
   • New receipts to be received from WAWF;
   • Asset transfers from DoD organizations;
   • Asset transfers to contractors as GFP;
   • Asset transfers from contractors to return GFP.
7. Shelf life management of assets by lot number or individual asset;
8. Replenishment calculations based on trends or hard values;
9. RFID tagging and reading capabilities to include the ability to utilize Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) to locate and map assets;
10. Use of hand-held dDevices to perform inventories, asset or container relocation and UII associations.

Materiel Management/ICP - This module provides an Inventory Control System that manages warehouse inventories, routes and processes materiel and customer requisitions, maintains and enforces contracts for item managers, automates OM&S accounting and reporting, and provides in-transit tracking.

Force Systems Management - This module complements the Property Accountability module and provides the capability to create & customize equipment authorizations for PA UICs at an enterprise level.

Registry Small Arms/Light Weapons - The Small Arms / Light Weapons Registry module is designed to create accountability for all weapons within the DOD. This module is in response to a MILSTRAP policy that was DOD mandated. There are three ways to enter and manage weapons:

1. Auto Add (DPAS Managed) — The weapons are entered  in either the PA or Warehouse modules.  
2. Auto Add (Externally Managed) — The weapons are entered through DLMS Transactions.
3. Manually Add — The weapons are entered  manually through the Registry module.

For more information on DPAS functionality, visit the DPAS Support Site.