Military Bases

Land sales for the first three rounds of military base closure totaled nearly $180 million as of March 1996. There were only two sales in the 1993 round, for a total of $1.5 million. Although private parties are not precluded from buying surplus properties at the closed military bases, they rarely have a chance to bid on the properties because communities are requesting the properties under public benefit transfers, economic development conveyances, and noncompetitive negotiated sale authorities. Communities are planning industrial and office complexes, parks and recreational facilities, residential housing, and prisons on this land. Developing and implementing reuse and disposal plans, however, can be a lengthy process. Readily marketable properties may decline in value as they sit idle and may require resources from the services' budgets for protection and maintenance. GAO recommends that the Defense Department (DOD), to preserve the facilities' value while reducing protection and maintenance costs, (1) set time limits on negotiations before offering properties for public sale and (2) when practical, rent unoccupied surplus housing and other facilities as a way to preserve properties pending final disposal. To help communities successfully transform closed bases into new opportunities, federal agencies have provided more than $780 million in direct assistance to areas affected by the 1988, 1991, and 1993 realignment and closure rounds. DOD now reports that for the 60 bases GAO reviewed, about 21 percent of the 88,000 DOD civilian jobs lost have been replaced.

GAO found that: (1) as of March 1996, land sales for the first three BRAC rounds totalled $179.2 million; (2) private parties rarely bid on the purchase of base properties because communities often request these properties under public benefit transfers, economic development conveyances, and noncompetitive negotiated sale authorities; (3) the federal government plans to retain approximately 16 percent of the land from the 23 bases reviewed; (4) although most of the land from these bases will be requested by local reuse authorities, reuse of 15 percent of the land remains undetermined; (5) communities plan to use the land for industrial and office complexes, parks and recreational facilities, residential housing, and correctional facilities; (6) although some bases have been able to generate jobs and revenue by leasing base properties during the conversion process, development and implementation of reuse and disposal plans can be a lengthy process; (7) readily marketable properties require resources for their protection and upkeep; (8) during past BRAC closure rounds, the federal government has provided over $780 million in planning assistance, training, and infrastructure grants to help communities implement their redevelopment objectives; and (9) 21 percent of the 88,433 DOD civilian jobs that were lost as a result of the first three BRAC closure rounds have been replaced.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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