Concept of Operations for the HQMC Data Assurance Teams (DATs)

1. PURPOSE. TO PROVIDE COORDINATING INSTRUCTIONS
AND GUIDANCE FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE HQMC DATA ASSURANCE TEAMS
(DATS).
2. GENERAL INFORMATION.
 A. BACKGROUND. IN RESPONSE TO THE CONTINUING GLOBAL WAR ON
TERRORISM, THE FINDINGS OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE MARINE CORPS
(IGMC), AND REQUESTS FROM MARFOR AND MEF COMMANDERS, HQMC HAS
DIRECTED THE CREATION OF DATA ASSURANCE TEAMS (DATS) TO PROVIDE
ASSISTANCE TO THE MEF/MARFOR COMMANDERS IN THE ANALYSIS OF THEIR
SUBORDINATE UNITS  EQUIPMENT ACCOUNTABILITY AND READINESS REPORTING
POSTURES.
 B. DAT MISSION. PROVIDE LOGISTICS ANALYSIS ASSISTANCE TO THE 
MARFOR/MEF COMMANDERS VIA THE EMPLOYMENT OF ON-SITE SPECIAL ANALYSIS 
SUPPORT. IN THE NEAR TERM, ENSURE DATA ACCURACY AND FIDELITY FOR 
PROPERTY ACCOUNTABILITY AND READINESS REPORTING AT THE USING UNIT
LEVEL OF THE MAGTF. IN THE LONGER TERM, ENSURE EQUIPMENT RECORDS
ACCURACY AND THE SYNCHRONIZATION ACROSS LOGISTICS LEGACY AIS FILES
TO ENABLE A SMOOTHER TRANSITION TO GCSS-MC BLOCK 1.
3. BASIC DAT INFORMATION.
 A. DAT STRUCTURE IS EMBEDDED WITHIN THE LOCAL LMT AND ASSIGNED
ADCON/OPCON TO THE LOCAL OIC LMT. DAT ANALYSTS SUPPORTING MARFORRES
ARE EMBEDDED WITHIN THE LMT-EAST AND WEST TEAMS. A DAT LIAISON CELL
WILL BE POSITIONED AT MARFORRES HQ, NOLA, TO COORDINATE DAT
ACTIVITIES ISO MARFORRES UNITS AND TO MONITOR AND ANALYZE MARFORRES
UNIT REPORTED READINESS. THE OIC, LMT-WEST HAS PRIMARY OPERATIONAL
CONTROL OVER MARFORRES ANALYSES AND WILL COORDINATE WITH THE OIC,
LMT EAST AND THE LIAISON AT MARFORRES TO DETERMINE SCHEDULING FOR
MARFORRES DAT VISITS.
 B. DATS ARE TENTATIVELY SLATED TO BE IOC AND AVAILABLE TO BEGIN 
ANALYSES DURING JULY 2006. THE LOCAL OIC LMT WILL PROVIDE ACTUAL IOC 
DATES TO THEIR SUPPORTED MEF/MARFORRES COMMANDERS AS THEY ARE 
DETERMINED. 
 C. A TYPICAL DAT ANALYSIS TEAM WILL CONSIST OF A 5-MAN TEAM
COMPOSED OF CONTRACTED ANALYSTS AND LMT UNIFORMED PERSONNEL. 
LMT-EAST AND LMT-WEST WILL EMPLOY TWO TEAMS, AND LMT-WESTPAC WILL
EMPLOY ONE TEAM.
4. CONCEPT OF OPERATION.
 A. DAT ANALYSIS. 
 (1) DAT ANALYSIS VISITS WILL BE COORDINATED BETWEEN THE OIC
OF THE LOCAL LMT AND THE MEF/MARFORRES G4 MATERIEL READINESS
OFFICE/BRANCH. FOR THE REMAINDER OF FY06, DATS WILL ANALYZE MEF/RES
UNITS AS RQMTS ARE COORDINATED. BY 1 SEPT 06, MEF/MARFORRES G4 AND
THE OIC LMTS WILL DEVELOP AND PUBLISH AN FY07 ANALYSIS SCHEDULE. A
TYPICAL ANALYSIS IS SCHEDULED FOR A TWO WEEK DURATION; HOWEVER,
UNITS WITH SMALL MARES EQUIP POPULATIONS MAY BE SCHEDULED FOR ONE
WEEK. THE QUALITY OF THE ANALYSIS IS THE CRITICAL FACTOR AND
SCHEDULES WILL BE ADJUSTED TO ENSURE THE ANALYSES PRODUCE THE
DESIRED RESULTS, IN TERMS OF GREATER ACCURACY AND FIDELITY IN
REPORTING EQUIPMENT PRESENCE, CHAIN OF CUSTODY AND READINESS. 
MEF/MARFORRES G4S ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR NOTIFYING THEIR USING UNITS OF
UPCOMING DAT ANALYSES.
 (2) THE DAT ANALYSIS FOCUSES ON EQUIPMENT ACCOUNTABILITY,
READINESS REPORTING, AND THE APPLICATION OF MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
PROGRAMS IN SUPPORT OF THAT EQUIPMENT.
 (3) DATS WILL CONDUCT A COMPLETE RECORDS/LOG SYSTEMS
ANALYSIS OF CRANE REPORTABLE WEAPONS HELD BY THE COMMANDS, AND THEY
WILL SUPERVISE USING UNIT RESPONSIBLE OFFICERS AND A USING UNIT
INVENTORY TEAM IN THE PHYSICAL INVENTORY OF ALL MARES REPORTABLE
TAMCNS.
 (4) DATS WILL ASSIST COMMANDERS WITH THE EXECUTION OF
ADJUSTING FORMAL LOGISTICS RECORDS. TO THAT END, DATS WILL:
 (A) ASSIST IN THE CONDUCT OF CAUSATIVE RESEARCH ON
INVENTORY IMBALANCES.
 (B) ASSIST IN EXECUTING ADJUSTMENT TRANSACTIONS TO
CORRECT RECORD IMBALANCES.
 (C) ASSIST IN IDENTIFYING SYSTEM INACCURACIES (I.E.,
TFSMS ALLOWANCES, LM2/MERIT INCONSISTENCIES) AND CORRECTIVE ACTION.
 (D) ENSURE LM2 PORTRAYS AN ACCURATE PICTURE OF UNIT S
EQUIPMENT READINESS POSTURE.
 (5) COMMANDERS SHOULD CONSIDER THE RESULTS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS OF DAT CAUSATIVE RESEARCH AS AUTHORITATIVE. 
THEREFORE, JUSTIFICATION STATEMENTS ON VOUCHERABLE
TRANSACTIONS/DOCUMENTS 
SHOULD INCLUDE THE STATEMENT  PROCESSED BASED ON HQMC DAT
RECOMMENDATION . 
 (6) DAT RECOMMENDED JAGMAN INVESTIGATIONS WILL BE
ACCOMPLISHED IAW CURRENT MARINE CORPS DIRECTIVES.
 B. CRITIQUES. DAT ANALYSTS WILL CONDUCT A CRITIQUE OF THE AREAS
ANALYZED, TRENDS (POSITIVE & NEGATIVE) DISCOVERED, EDUCATION
PROVIDED, CORRECTIVE ACTION COMPLETED, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT. THESE CRITIQUES WILL BE PROVIDED TO THE
COMMODITIES (SUPPLY & MAINT MGMT SHOPS) AND TO THE UNIT COMMANDER
AND STAFF.
 C. ANALYSIS REPORTS. A DETAILED SUMMARY OF THE ANALYSIS WILL BE
PROVIDED TO THE UNIT COMMANDER AND THE MSC G4 WITHIN 14 DAYS OF THE
COMPLETION OF THE ANALYSIS. MSCS ARE ENCOURAGED TO UTILIZE THEIR IN-
HOUSE INSPECTION TEAMS TO FOLLOW-UP ON THE RESULTS OF THE DAT
ANALYSIS AND REVIEW THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDED CORRECTIVE
ACTIONS.
5. TASKS. 
 A. MEF/MARFORRES G4. COORDINATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DAT
ANALYSIS SCHEDULE WITH THE OIC LMT AND MSC STAFFS. MARFORRES
SCHEDULE WILL BE COORDINATED BETWEEN THE MARFORRES G4, DAT LNO, AND
THE OIC LMT WEST AND OIC LMT EAST.
 B. OIC LMT (EAST/WEST/WESTPAC)
 (1) COORDINATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DAT ANALYSIS SCHEDULE
WITH THE MEF/MARFOR G4 AND MSC STAFFS.
 (2) AUGMENT THE DAT WITH UNIFORMED LMT MEMBERS AS REQUIRED.
 C. MCB, CAMP LEJEUNE/CAMP PENDLETON/CAMP BUTLER. ENSURE NMCI
COMPUTER/SEAT REQUIREMENTS IDENTIFIED BY HQMC ARE EXPEDITED TO MEET
DAT IOC OF JULY 2006.
6. SUMMARY. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DATS IS A HQMC RESPONSE TO THE
IGMC AND MEF/MARFOR COMMANDER EXPRESSED CONCERNS OVER EQUIPMENT
ACCOUNTABILITY AND READINESS REPORTING. DAT ANALYSES ARE NOT
COMPLIANCE REVIEWS; RATHER, THEY ARE AN ADDITIONAL TOOL AVAILABLE TO
THE MEF/MARFOR COMMANDER TO ENSURE THE ACCURACY OF EQUIPMENT
ACCOUNTING AND READINESS INFORMATION, THE EFFICIENCY OF SUPPLY AND
MAINT MGMT PROCESSES, AND THE OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS OF THOSE 
PROCESSES ISO THE UNIT MISSION.