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As part of its plan to reduce its active duty force by 80,000 personnel by 2017, the Army will be inactivating 10 BCTs currently stationed in the United States and reorganizing the remaining BCTs. The Army conducted analyses of different stationing options, which included the use of its military value analysis model to compare installations based on their ability to support BCTs. GAO was asked to review the decision making process the Army used for its BCT stationing decisions, including its military value analysis model. This report does the following: (1) describes the analyses the Army conducted to make its BCT decisions, and (2) evaluates the extent to which the Army has established guidance and processes related to the use of the military value analysis model as a part of its stationing decisions. GAO reviewed the Army's stationing guidance, current and previous versions of the military value analysis model, documents on the BCT decisions, and spoke with cognizant officials. GAO recommends that the Army develop and implement guidance related to when community input should be obtained for stationing decisions, and related to the use of its military value analysis model, such as when it should be used, the level of approval required for changes to the model, and how certain training areas should be considered, as well as processes for updating and reviewing the model. The Army concurred with GAO's recommendations and explained how they will be implemented., Report to the Subcommittee on Airland, Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate.

According to DOD, corrosion can significantly affect the cost of facility maintenance and the expected service life of DOD facilities. While corrosion is not always highly visible, it can lead to structural failure, loss of capital investment, and environmental damage. In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed DOD s corrosion prevention and control program for facilities and infrastructure. In this report, GAO assessed the extent that DOD (1) met reporting requirements, (2) maintained accurate return-on-investment data in its records, and (3) fully informed relevant officials of its corrosion-control efforts. GAO reviewed DOD policies and plans, met with corrosion-control officials, and visited and interviewed officials at 32 installations. GAO recommends five actions to improve DOD s project reporting and tracking, the accuracy of its return-on-investment data, and its communication with stakeholders on corrosion-control activities for facilities and other infrastructure. DOD partially concurred with three recommendations and did not agree with two. DOD plans to implement a web-based tracking tool to improve data timeliness and standardization, among other actions. GAO continues to believe that its recommendations to improve project reporting are warranted, that the Corrosion Office should use its existing authorities to identify and implement other incentives for project managers to meet reporting milestones and that DOD should revise its guidance so that Corrosion Executives would assist with the oversight of project reporting., Report to Congressional Requesters

Over the next couple of years, maintenance work available to the ship repair industrial base supporting Naval Station Mayport is expected to decrease. Section 1017 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 required the Navy to analyze the costs and benefits of stationing additional DDG-51 class destroyers at Naval Station Mayport and to include other considerations. It also required GAO to provide an assessment of the Navy s analysis. The Navy provided its analysis in a report submitted to Congress on December 31, 2012. GAO s objectives were to describe the extent to which the Navy s analysis (1) demonstrated the use of applicable best practices for an analysis of costs and benefits and (2) provided information on other considerations, as required by Section 1017. In conducting our assessment, GAO identified applicable best practices for analyzing costs and benefits and discussed the Navy s documentation and methodology with knowledgeable officials. GAO also reviewed the information in the Navy s analysis, interviewed Navy and private ship repair firm officials, and visited Naval Station Mayport. GAO is not making recommendations in this report. DOD and the Department of the Navy reviewed a draft of this report and did not have formal comments. The Navy provided technical comments that were incorporated as appropriate in the report., Report to Congressional Committees

There have been various reported incidents of individuals being potentially exposed to environmental hazards while on military installations. Indeed, some incidents, such as contaminated air due to burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq and contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, have received considerable attention, and in the case of Camp Lejeune have resulted in claims seeking billions of dollars from the government. Public Law 111-383, Section 314(2011) directed GAO to assess Department of Defense (DoD) policies regarding environmental exposures. GAO's objectives were to determine the following: (1) the extent to which DoD has policies that identify and respond to environmental exposures, (2) what programs exist to provide health care or compensation to individuals for environmental exposures, and (3) which features of other federal programs may provide options in designing future compensation programs. GAO briefed the Armed Services Committees in December 2011, to satisfy the mandate. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed relevant documentation, visited installations, and interviewed relevant officials. GAO is making recommendations to DoD to identify and respond to limitations in its policies for responding to environmental exposures. DoD generally disagreed with GAO's recommendations, commenting that current policies are adequate. GAO believes the recommendations remain valid, as discussed in the report., Report to Congressional Committees.

Since established as a naval base in December 1942, Naval Station Mayport, Florida, as grown to become the third largest naval fleet concentration area in the United States and the second largest on the East Coast. During this time, the base has served as the home port for multiple types of Navy surface ships--reaching a peak of over 30 ships including two conventional carriers in 1987. The most recent conventionally powered carrier to be homeported there--the USS John F. Kennedy--was decommissioned in 2007. Prior to the USS John F. Kennedy's retirement, the Department of Defense's (DOD) 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review called for the Navy to provide more warfighting assets more quickly to multiple locations, and, to meet this requirement, the Navy made a preliminary decision to homeport additional surface ships at Mayport. The Navy subsequently prepared an environmental impact statement to evaluate a broad range of strategic home port and dispersal options for Atlantic Fleet surface ships in Mayport and on January 14, 2009, issued its decision to pursue an option that would include the first-time homeporting of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Mayport. The Navy's decision was reviewed as part of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, which in its report supported the Navy's decision to homeport a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Mayport, indicating that homeporting an East Coast carrier in Mayport would contribute to mitigating the risk of a terrorist attack, accident, or natural disaster occurring in Norfolk, Virginia, where currently all of the nuclear-powered aircraft carriers on the East Coast are homeported.

The Military Construction Authorization Act, 1984, established the Military Family Housing Leasing Program, commonly referred to as the Section 801 housing program. This authority provided a mechanism for DOD to contract with private developers to build new rental housing on or near military installations. The Section 801 program is also referred to as a build-to-lease program. The program permitted contracts entered into under its authority to allocate responsibility for operating and maintaining the units to either the government or the contractor, and required that units be constructed to DOD standards, initial leases be for a period not in excess of 20 years (excluding construction), and, upon termination of the lease period, that the government have the right of first refusal to acquire the facilities constructed and leased under the contract. The Section 801 program was initially authorized as a pilot program for approximately two years, under which the number of housing units to be built could not exceed 300 per contract, with a maximum of two contracts per military department. Subsequent legislation renewed the program, expanded the number of units that could be constructed, and increased the number of contracts allowed by each service. The housing constructed under the Section 801 housing program was available to all members of the armed forces who are eligible for assignment to military family housing. Between 1985 and 1996, under the Section 801 program, DOD awarded eight contracts to private developers to construct approximately 3,100 military family housing units-a combination of two-, three-, four-, and five bedroom units-on seven military installations. Also, under the Section 801 authority, DOD built numerous housing units off-base, located near approximately 20 military installations.

The Department of Defense (DOD) plans to increase the U.S. military presence on Guam by more than two-and-a-half times the island's current military population of 15,000 by 2020. To keep pace with this growth, DOD has determined that substantial upgrades to the island's existing utilities infrastructure are required for electric power, potable water, wastewater treatment, and solid waste disposal to meet future utility needs. GAO was asked to examine (1) the condition and capacity of the existing utilities' infrastructure on Guam, the military's estimated utility requirements, and potential solutions for meeting the increased demand on the island's utility systems as well as (2) the extent that DOD has developed a comprehensive plan to address any challenges it faces in its planning for new utility systems. GAO reviewed and analyzed plans and studies within DOD, the services, and several stakeholders on implementing new utility services associated with the Guam military buildup.