1999 DOD Budget

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) fiscal year (FY) 1999 budget request and prior years' appropriations for selected procurement and research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) programs, focusing on potential: (1) reductions in the FY 1999 budget request; and (2) rescissions to prior years' appropriations.

GAO noted that: (1) it identified opportunities to reduce FY 1999 procurement and RDT&E requests by about $6.3 billion and to rescind prior years' procurement and RDT&E appropriations by $99 million; (2) these reductions and rescissions can be made because schedules have slipped, requirements have changed, and issues affecting program funding have emerged since the budget request was developed; (3) the potential rescissions include $75 million in prior years' appropriations for which obligational authority expires on September 30, 1998; (4) DOD has requested congressional approval to reprogram some of these excess funds in its FY 1998 omnibus reprogramming request; (5) GAO identified about $5.2 billion in potential reductions to DOD's FY 1999 procurement budget request and about $17.3 million in potential rescissions from DOD's prior years' procurement appropriations; (6) of the $17.3 million in potential rescissions from prior year's appropriations, $8.3 million is from expiring excess FY 1996 funds; (7) GAO identified $1.1 billion in potential reductions to DOD's FY 1999 RDT&E budget requests and $81.7 million in potential rescissions from DOD's prior years' RDT&E appropriations; and (8) of the $81.7 million in potential rescissions from prior years' appropriations, $66.7 million is from expiring excess FY 1997 funds.