Along with requesting a new base closure round, the Pentagon is proposing further cuts in its civilian workforce as part of new money-saving initiatives included in its fiscal 2014 budget request. The two actions are intertwined, as DOD Comptroller Robert Hale explained to reporters Wednesday. The proposed restructuring of the civilian workforce could result in a 5 to 6 percent reduction from fiscal 2013 to 2018 …
The BRAC round the Pentagon is requesting for 2015 would be patterned after the 1993 and 1995 rounds, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale said Wednesday, offering a sharp contrast to the sprawling 2005 round and its focus on transformation and realignment. When combined with the $2.4 billion implementation cost officials are projecting for the prospective base closure round, Hale’s description paints a picture of a BRAC process with very little in common with the most recent round …
The Pentagon is requesting a new base closure round in 2015, but in a change from last year’s request for additional BRAC rounds, officials allocated funding in the new budget proposal to cover the upfront costs of carrying out the process of trimming DOD’s infrastructure. If nothing else, the decision to include $2.4 billion over the next five years to pay for a new base closure round should inoculate the Obama administration against accusations that it’s not serious about paring its infrastructure …
Housing projects to assist the homeless at the former Fort Monmouth, N.J., are expected to cost more than $10 million, according to the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority. The four projects include the reuse of two existing buildings and 40 single-family housing units, and the construction of a new emergency shelter. The projects include: 180 Turning Lives Around, a non-profit that provides housing, counseling and court assistance to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse …
Reports of BRAC’s death have not been greatly exaggerated, at least according to the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. On Tuesday, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said he didn’t expect the Obama administration to request new base closure rounds in its fiscal 2014 budget request since Congress already made it clear last year that it was opposed to authorizing additional BRAC rounds …
To overcome lawmakers’ resistance to approving a new round of base closures, the Pentagon should identify from the outset what installations it is considering closing or realigning, Todd Harrison, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, told reporters Friday. “DOD needs to come at Congress with more specific plans,” Harrison said, reported Foreign Policy. What’s needed is a detailed plan mapped down to the congressional district. The vast majority of members of Congress won’t be hurt …
While many lawmakers have cited the upfront costs associated with carrying out base closures as an argument against authorizing a new BRAC round at a time when the Pentagon is being forced to slash spending, one defense analyst believes shuttering excess facilities is one key structural reform the military needs to implement to rein in its budget. “No business in America would be satisfied operating for a decade with 21 percent excess facilities,” said Todd Harrison, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments …
Two decades after it closed, the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, S.C., is a thriving mixed-use redevelopment, featuring a town center, a variety of housing types, a technology and aerospace business park, and a commercial and general aviation airport. Other air bases closed around the same time have had varying degrees of success, however, reports the Sun News in a multi-part series marking the 20-year anniversary of the base’s closure. The former Pease AFB, near Portsmouth, N.H., has experienced similar growth to the reuse project at Myrtle Beach AFB …
For the second time in a month, a House subcommittee is scheduled to hear testimony from the Pentagon’s top installation officials about the need for a new BRAC round. But unlike the hearing held last month by the House Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee, next week the House Appropriations’ Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee will have an opportunity to hear from DOD witnesses after the White House has unveiled its fiscal 2014 budget proposal …
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown last week highlighted the renewed designation of Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority, the central Ohio site of the former Newark Air Force Base, as a Small Business Administration HUBZone through 2015. An amendment attached to the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill that was sponsored by Brown extends the period during which certain base closure sites can be designated as HUBZones, a status conferring preferential access to federal procurements for qualified small businesses …