Military Personnel: DOD Has Processes for Operating and Managing Its Sexual Assault Incident Database

Abstract : GAO has reported that DOD has not collected uniform data on sexual assaults involving members of the armed forces. In 2008, Congress required DOD to implement a centralized, case-level database for the collection and maintenance of these data. In 2012, DSAID reached initial operational capability to capture sexual assault data. House Report 112-479 included a provision for GAO to review DSAID no sooner than 1 year after it was certified compliant with DOD standards by the Secretary of Defense. This report (1) describes the current status of DODs implementation of DSAID and steps DOD has taken to help standardize DSAIDs use, (2) assesses any technical challenges DSAIDs users have identified and any DOD plans to address those challenges, and (3) assesses the extent to which DODs change management process for modifying DSAID aligns with information technology and project management industry standards.GAO reviewed DOD documents, and interviewed DOD program officials as well as DSAID users. Specifically, GAO conducted site visits to 9 military installations and met with 42 DSAID users. Views obtained are nongeneralizable. Installations were selected based on their use of DSAID, number of users, geographic diversity, and other factors. GAO is not making recommendations in this report. DOD provided technical comments, which GAO incorporated as appropriate.