Military Bases

The conference report on the Defense Department's fiscal year 1982 Appropriations Act requires GAO to review the Pentagon's plans to consolidate its defense research and development laboratories. This interim report, which provides information on the Navy section cited in the conference report, addresses cost and savings data; personnel assumption; duplication of research among the services; and research, development, testing and evaluation relative to the force structure. GAO compares selected costs and savings estimates for the Navy laboratory consolidation plan submitted to the 1991 Base Closure and Realignment Commission in April 1991 to the costs and savings contained in the fiscal year 1993 budget estimates sent to Congress in January 1992.

GAO found that: (1) comparing the Navy's April 1991 estimates with fiscal year (FY) 1993 budget estimates, the estimated cost of military construction for the Navy laboratory consolidation has not materially changed; (2) the FY 1993 budget submission was not based on estimates derived from the Cost of Base Realignment Action (COBRA) model, since the Navy used its regular budget process and the estimates were difficult to compare; (3) comparisons in the area of personnel reductions were the most difficult, since the April 1991 plan projected a reduction of 2,280 positions due to the consolidation of laboratories, and the FY 1993 budget request included a reduction of 11,252 positions resulting from work-load reductions and consolidation of research and development laboratories; (4) DOD has taken steps to reduce duplication among the services in common research areas, and if implemented as planned, the Navy's consolidation plan should reduce duplication among the Navy's RDT&E activities; and (5) there was no precise relationship between the force structure and the Navy RDT&E budget.