GAO Assesses Base Closure Need

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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The Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1990, as amended,
required the Department of Defense (DOD) to address several base
realignment and closure (BRAC) issues in 2004 for the 2005 BRAC round to
proceed. The requirements included reporting on a 20-year force
structure plan, an inventory of military installations, and separately
adopting selection criteria for the upcoming round. The legislation also
required DOD to certify whether an additional BRAC round was needed,
and, if so, that annual net savings would be realized not later than
fiscal year 2011. If the certifications were provided, GAO was required
to evaluate DOD's submissions and report to Congress. DOD reported on
March 23, 2004, and provided the certifications. 

In this report GAO evaluates (1) DOD's responsiveness to legislative
requirements; (2) the force structure plan, infrastructure inventory,
and selection criteria; (3) other key issues included in DOD's report;
and (4) DOD's certification regarding the need for an additional BRAC
round. This report includes a recommendation for executive action by DOD
and a matter for congressional consideration to strengthen the BRAC
process. In commenting on a draft of this report, DOD agreed with the
report contents.

To view the full report , including the scope and methodology, see
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-760.

***

Highlights of GAO-04-760, a report to congressional committees

MILITARY BASE CLOSURES
Assessment of DOD's 2004 Report on the Need for a Base Realignment and
Closure Round
May, 2004

DOD's report to Congress generally addressed all legislative reporting
requirements in section 2912 of the Defense Base Realignment and Closure
Act of 1990, as amended, and separately complied with requirements under
Section 2913 in adopting selection criteria to guide BRAC decision
making. The degree of coverage on some reporting requirements was
limited to avoid prejudging the ongoing analytical process for the 2005
round. 

As directed, GAO analyzed DOD's worldwide installation inventory, force
structure plan, and selection criteria. While all three are important in
setting a framework for the BRAC process, the latter two figure
prominently in guiding DOD's analyses for the 2005 round. The
unclassified portion of the 20-year force structure plan, extending
through 2009, provides a macro-level focus (e.g., number of Army
divisions), and reflects limited changes across the military services,
even though the services have initiatives under way that could affect
future force structure and infrastructure requirements. Today's security
environment is evolving, as are force structure requirements along with
technology advancements, and defense transformation efforts. The
department must consider these factors in its BRAC analyses with
appropriate allowances for future uncertainties. DOD's selection
criteria closely parallel criteria used in previous rounds, while
incorporating the provisions required by legislation authorizing the
2005 round. The analytical sufficiency of the criteria will best be
assessed through their application in the ongoing BRAC process. 

GAO addressed other BRAC-related issues such as excess defense
infrastructure capacity and BRAC savings because of their importance to
DOD's certification of need for the 2005 BRAC round. DOD's excess
capacity analysis, completed for the 2004 report, has some limitations
that could result in either overstating or understating excess capacity
across various functional areas, and make it difficult to project a
total amount of excess capacity across DOD. While the analysis gives
some indications of excess capacity within the department, the issue
warrants a more complete assessment in the BRAC process. That process
will also consider joint base use with the potential for better
identifying excess capacity. DOD's historical financial data suggest
that, assuming conditions similar to those in the 1993 and 1995 rounds,
each of the military departments could achieve annual net savings by
2011, as stipulated by the mandate. While the potential exists for
substantial savings from the upcoming round, it is difficult to
conclusively project the expected magnitude of the savings because there
are too many unknowns at this time. Additionally, improvements are
needed in DOD's accounting for savings after BRAC decisions are made. 

GAO found no basis to question DOD's certification of the need for an
additional BRAC round. While clear limitations exist in DOD's assessment
of excess capacity, it does point to some areas that warrant additional
analysis-and the current BRAC process is an appropriate forum for doing
so. 

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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