Summary

The Senate report accompanying the 1997 Military Construction Appropriations Bill required GAO to continue its annual review of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) accounts and make recommendations on the validity of the Defense Department's (DOD) proposed budget request for base closure activities. Four rounds of military base closings--in 1988, 1991, 1993, and 1995--have taken place. DOD is requesting $2.1 billion for BRAC in fiscal year 1998, including $40.7 million for expenses remaining from the 1988 round, $215.1 million for the 1991 round, $629.7 million for the 1993 round, and $1,175.4 million for the 1995 round. This request is about $400 million less than the 1997 appropriation and about $1.8 billion less than the 1996 appropriation. GAO's review of the 1998 request showed that data required to support continued funding for the 1988 and 1991 closure rounds were identified in the aggregate without detailed information about individual bases; however, the information provided for the 1993 and 1995 rounds contains these details. Lack of detailed information for the 1988 and 1991 rounds limits the visibility of planned expenditures and estimated savings for these bases. In past studies, GAO found high unobligated balances and inaccurate cost estimates in BRAC funding. GAO's current review found the high unobligated balances being reduced.

GAO noted that: (1) because the first BRAC account for 1988 base closures is no longer funded and part II (1991 closure round) of the second BRAC account will no longer be funded after September 30, 1997, DOD included continuous funding requirements for 1988 and 1991 base closure activities in part III of its fiscal year (FY) 1998 appropriation request; (2) GAO's review of the supporting documentation in DOD's FY 1998 budget justification books showed that data required to support continued funding for the 1988 and 1991 closure rounds were identified in the aggregate without detailed information by individual bases; however, the information provided for the 1993 and 1995 closure rounds contains these details; (3) the lack of detailed information for the 1988 and 1991 closure rounds limits visibility of planned expenditures and adjustments to estimated savings for these bases; (4) further, if the current trend of prolonged environmental restoration costs continues and detailed justification data continue to decrease for older BRAC rounds, less visibility of planned expenditures and changes to estimated savings will result; (5) the high unobligated balances in the BRAC account that GAO reported last year are being reduced; (6) if DOD continues to obligate BRAC funds at the current rate, unobligated balances will decline from $986.5 million at the beginning of FY 1997 to $200 million at the end of the fiscal year; and (7) in addition, DOD and the Air Force reduced their 1998 BRAC appropriation requests by a total of $124 million to control future unobligated balances.