Federal Manager's Daily Report

DoD Again Reports that it Has a Fifth Too Much Capacity

The Pentagon has issued the latest in a series of reports, this one ordered by its fiscal 2016 budget law, saying that it has about a fifth too much capacity and again calling for another round of base closings and realignments.

The latest report puts the excess at 19 percent, on the low end of prior reports putting the figure as in a range up to 22 percent, using different methodologies. As previously, the report argued that there are more pressing needs for the money being spent to keep up the excess.

“Limited construction and maintenance funding is better used at enduring locations with the highest military value rather than keeping installations the department does not need. Reality and common business sense dictate that infrastructure should be reconfigured to meet specific needs and changing threats,” it says.

A base closings round would allow for sufficient excess capacity to accommodate surge requirements and changes in missions or technology, it added.

Congress is on path to once again reject the request, however. Some senators had drafted a plan designed to address objections to the way the process worked in the past, including for example by setting strict requirements on up-front spending and for long-term savings, but that amendment was not offered when the Senate considered its version of the defense budget bill.

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