Re: RAB ASSISTANCE LEGISLATION

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

FEEDBACK ON RAB POSTING
I have received some feedback on my posting, earlier today, on the 
status of RAB technical assistance. The situation may be somewhat more 
flexible than I suggested, for the following reasons:
1) Unless the Defense Authorization Act is signed by the President, the 
Defense Department (DOD) must still comply with FY1995 Underwood-Kohl 
Amendment.
2) The FY1996 Defense Appropriations Act specified $5 million for RABs 
at formerly used defense sites (FUDS). This might free up funds for 
RABs at active bases.
3) The language in the FY96 Authorization bill, if enacted, would allow 
DOD to assign all closed and former bases to one official (or one per 
service) because they have no base commanders.
4) The proposed change in the way that DOD accounts for RAB 
administrative support may lead to the use of small, local contractors 
instead of large, gold-plating remediation and engineering contractors, 
saving substantial sums for technical support.
5) Even under the new language, DOD could devise a means of encouraging 
RABs to employ jointly the same service provide to facilitate 
networking or other common services.
If your RAB needs technical support, ask for it at the local level and 
remind the chain of command that the regulations for enabling it are 
long overdue.
Lenny Siegel