The Office of the Secretary of Defense has not developed or implemented a plan to guide joint bases in achieving cost savings and efficiencies, GAO has said.
It said DoD originally estimated saving $2.3 billion from joint basing over 20 years, but in the absence of a plan to drive savings, that estimate has fallen by almost 90 percent.
OSD also does not yet have a fully developed method for accurately collecting information on costs, savings, and efficiencies achieved specifically from joint basing, according to GAO* 13* 134.
It said the joint bases implemented common standards for installation support services developed by OSD, and in fiscal 2010 and 2011 reported meeting the standards more than 70 percent of the time.
However, three factors limited the usefulness of the reported standards as a common tool for managing installation support services: the lack of clarity in some standards, unclear standards that were not reviewed and changed in a timely manner, and data collection and reporting on the standards that in some cases adhered to individual service standards rather than the common standard, GAO said.
DoD partially agreed to prioritize review and revision of unclear common standards, and develop a strategy to share solutions to common challenges. However, it disagreed with a recommendation to develop a plan to achieve cost savings, arguing that such goals are not appropriate at this time.
