Jerusalem Post: 60% of Israeli army purchases fail quality tests
Israel’s State Comptroller Tanya Engelman warned in an annual report that about 60% of the IDF’s purchases of equipment fail quality control tests, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The State Comptroller is responsible for external oversight of the work of government ministries, local government and various public bodies in the state, and monitors the management of the financial affairs of blocs and parties.
The report noted that this problem is exacerbated by the fact that the military doesn’t provide comprehensive data on failures in quality control tests to the Ministry of Defense, which manages procurement.
Quality testing is concerned with ensuring that certain standards are met in procurement to ensure that their purpose can be achieved.
Engelman said the statistics were particularly worrying in the midst of the protracted war on Gaza, when equipment failures can lead to the continued loss of soldiers.
According to the report, from 2020 to 2022, the IDF’s Testing and Quality Control Unit conducted 2,490 initial tests, and suppliers failed 868 times, or 35% of the total tests, taking into account all products individually.
Moreover, the report said the unit conducted 20,740 continuous tests, with suppliers failing 3,027 times or 15% of the tests.
During the biennium, 80.4% of suppliers occasionally experienced initial test failures, while 72.3% of suppliers occasionally experienced failures in regular and continuous testing, when focusing on suppliers as a whole rather than their individual products.
The report noted that many tests weren’t recorded or tracked.
The Controller warned that this happened despite suppliers sometimes repeatedly failing the same tests, wasting resources and time, and delaying the opportunity to use equipment.
Parties often set new test dates that are completely unrealistic compared to the time required to fix the defect, resulting in failure in quality control testing.
Parts of the report were kept secret from the public, due to national security concerns.
