[CPEO-MEF] CLOSURE: GAO report on non-BRAC closures and realignments

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Military Bases: DOD Has Processes to Comply with Statutory  
Requirements for Closing or Realigning Installations

Government Accountability Office
GAO-13-645
Jun 27, 2013

For the original Highlights and link to the full report, go to
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-645


What GAO Found

The Department of Defense (DOD) and the military services have  
processes to meet statutory requirements for base closures and  
realignments, and use these processes hundreds of times each year to  
make basing decisions outside of the Base Realignment and Closure  
(BRAC) process. These processes provide guidance for all types of  
basing actions, including, but not limited to base closures and  
realignments. For example, basing decisions can include actions such  
as reductions in force, disestablishments, renaming a command, and  
other organization changes. Generally, each service's basing decision  
process uses similar criteria, scope, and methodologies to determine  
where to locate its force structure, and each process is documented  
in established guidance. Each service's process requires a series of  
analyses, such as analysis of capability and capacity, cost  
estimates, and environmental considerations. Additionally, each  
service basing decision process includes legal reviews and an  
evaluation of the effect on civilian personnel. According to service  
officials, these reviews provide them data to determine whether a  
closure or realignment is above thresholds established in section  
2687 of Title 10, U.S. Code (hereafter 10 U.S.C. 2687), and therefore  
subject to additional evaluations and congressional notification.  
Specific statutory thresholds include:

closure of any installation with 300 or more direct-hire DOD civilian  
authorized positions (this includes all authorized positions,  
regardless of whether they are vacant or filled); and

realignment of any installation with 300 or more direct-hire DOD  
civilian authorized positions (vacant or filled), if the realignment  
will reduce the installation by 1,000 or more civilian positions, or  
50 percent or more of the total civilian authorized positions.

DOD has conducted closures or realignments that have either fallen  
below the thresholds of 10 U.S.C. 2687 or were authorized by the BRAC  
process, according to DOD officials. For example, the January 2011  
disestablishment of Joint Forces Command was a basing decision that,  
according to DOD, reduced civilian personnel and eliminated functions  
at multiple installations, but did not require evaluations and  
congressional notification pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2687. Specifically,  
one of the installations affected by the disestablishment of Joint  
Forces Command was Naval Support Activity Norfolk, Virginia--the  
installation where Joint Forces Command was headquartered. Naval  
Support Activity Norfolk had approximately 3,200 civilian personnel  
at the time of the disestablishment, of which 1,058 (about 33  
percent) were Joint Forces Command personnel. According to DOD, a  
significant number of Joint Forces Command functions and positions  
were eliminated through a reduction in force--an action that is not  
subject to 10 U.S.C. 2687--and the remainder were part of a  
realignment of Naval Support Activity Norfolk that fell below the  
statutory thresholds of 1,000 authorized civilian personnel or 50  
percent of the total civilian personnel authorized to be employed at  
the installation. Officials also told us they do not anticipate any  
future closures or realignments pursuant to this statute, citing BRAC  
as the preferred method for implementing basing actions that are  
above statutory thresholds.

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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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