Military construction would benefit from improved information sharing, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

“The Office of the Secretary of Defense gathers some information on military construction projects, but it does not have information on all projects that would better enable it to fully monitor the program,” the report found. The office “is limited in its ability to oversee the entire military construction program because it does not have sufficient relevant information on all projects that would enable it to make informed decisions and adequately address risks.”

Annual reports on military construction delays over the past five years show that “poor initial planning ... that could have been reasonably addressed before a delay occurred ... contributed to delays in approximately 25 percent of the military construction projects delayed for at least a year,” the report found.

As of September 2023, there were about 598 military construction projects worth over $28 billion across DoD, according to the report. As the largest service, the Army has over 500,000 buildings and other structures, according to a 2022 Congressional Budget Office report.

Though the office of the secretary of defense “collects military construction project information,” it “is limited to what it is required to report and is less detailed than what the office collects for overseeing selected portfolios and high-profile projects,” the report found. Additionally, “DoD construction agents do not consistently document and share observations and lessons learned as they monitor military construction projects,” the report found.

Though both the Army Corps of Engineers and Department of the Army guidance indicate that lessons learned should be recorded after a construction project is completed, the Corps of Engineers “does not have a framework in place that ensures that after-action reviews take place and that lessons learned are documented and shared across the enterprise,” the report found.

The report recommends that the Army ensure the Corps of Engineers “develops and issues guidance for documenting after-action reviews and validating lessons learned,” creates a database to effectively share after-action reviews and lessons learned and develops training “to validate lessons learned and best practices.”

Planning and analysis of lessons learned are “critical” to effective military construction, according to the report.

“Proper planning of military construction projects is critical to avoid design errors that could lead to project schedule delays and increased costs,” the report found. “Within DoD, the significant number of military construction projects delayed at least a year or more underscores the importance of military construction program oversight.”

Read the full report here.