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Defense Infrastructure: Opportunities Exist to Improve the Navy's Basing Decision Process and DOD Oversight

GAO-10-482 Published: May 11, 2010. Publicly Released: May 11, 2010.
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Highlights

Decisions by the military services on where to base their force structure can have significant strategic, socioeconomic, and cost implications for the Department of Defense (DOD) and the communities surrounding the bases. Each service uses its own process to make basing decisions. The House Committee on Armed Services directed GAO to review the services' basing decision processes. GAO examined the extent to which (1) the services have comprehensive processes in place that are designed to result in well-informed basing decisions and (2) DOD exercises management control of these processes. GAO reviewed and analyzed DOD and service guidance, studies, and relevant documents on implementation and oversight of the services' basing processes.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense To improve the Navy's ability to make well-informed basing decisions that are transparent, repeatable, and defendable, and to strengthen the Navy's guidance and associated documentation for its basing decision process, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Navy to, in its Strategic Laydown Flow Chart, clearly describe how risk is evaluated.
Closed – Implemented
On Nov. 22, 2013, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations established an instruction entitled, Strategic Laydown and Dispersal Plan for the Operating Forces of the U.S. Navy. This Navy instruction set the policy, roles, and responsibilities for the development and the integration-assessment of the annual Navy Strategic Laydown and Dispersal plan and provided strategic rationale and guidance for required actions to approve and implement individual homeport, homebase, and hub movements. This instruction described assessing near-term risk with regards to budget execution. In addition, the instruction described the criteria for evaluating homeport, homebase and hub recommendations, which included limiting risks associated with natural disasters or manmade catastrophes.
Department of Defense To improve the Navy's ability to make well-informed basing decisions that are transparent, repeatable, and defendable, and to strengthen the Navy's guidance and associated documentation for its basing decision process, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Navy to, in its Strategic Dispersal Flow Chart, clearly describe (1) how risk is evaluated and who conducts this analysis; (2) how information flows within the organization; (3) the means of communication with internal and external stakeholders; (4) the areas of authority and responsibility and appropriate lines of reporting; (5) how documents and related records are to be properly maintained to provide evidence that these activities were executed; (6) how regular management and supervisory activities and other related actions are performed during the normal course of this process; and (7) the organizational responsibilities for completing and coordinating the dispersal process actions.
Closed – Implemented
On Nov. 22, 2013, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations established an instruction entitled, Strategic Laydown and Dispersal Plan for the Operating Forces of the U.S. Navy. This Navy instruction set the policy, roles, and responsibilities for the development and the integration-assessment of the annual Navy Strategic Laydown and Dispersal plan and provides strategic rationale and guidance for required actions to approve and implement individual homeport, homebase, and hub movements. This instruction clearly described how risk is evaluated and who conducts this analysis; how information flows within the organization; the means of communication with internal and external stakeholders; the areas of authority and responsibility and appropriate lines of reporting; how documents and related records are to be properly maintained to provide evidence that these activities were executed; how regular management and supervisory activities and other related actions are performed during the normal course of this process; and the organizational responsibilities for completing and coordinating the dispersal process actions. As a result, the Navy established an instruction that clearly described the actions it takes to make its basing decisions, which implemented our recommendation.
Department of Defense To improve the Navy's ability to make well-informed basing decisions that are transparent, repeatable, and defendable, and to strengthen the Navy's guidance and associated documentation for its basing decision process, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Navy to describe the link between Navy's five guidance documents--the Chief of Naval Operations Instruction: Navy Organization Change Manual; Strategic Laydown Flow Chart; Strategic Dispersal Flow Chart; the Secretary of the Navy Instruction: Environmental Planning for Department of the Navy Actions; and the Chief of Naval Operations Instruction: Environmental Readiness Program Manual--used to implement the Navy's overall basing decision process.
Closed – Implemented
On Nov. 22, 2013, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations established an instruction entitled, "Strategic Laydown and Dispersal Plan for the Operating Forces of the U.S. Navy." This Navy instruction set the policy, roles, and responsibilities for the development and the integration-assessment of the annual Navy Strategic Laydown and Dispersal plan and provides strategic rationale and guidance for required actions to approve and implement individual homeport, homebase, and hub movements. This instruction included all the relevant Navy instructions and described the strategic laydown and dispersal timeline, including the time needed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act; the development working group; the criteria for homeporting, homebasing and hubbing movements; the integration-assessment working group; the basis for the annual strategic laydown and dispersal plan; the criteria for operating forces that should be included in the plan; and the definition of terms to implement the Navy's overall basing decision process. As a result, the Navy established guidance that implements its overall basing decision process, which implemented our recommendation.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should identify a lead office within OSD best suited for the authority and responsibility for providing oversight of the services' domestic basing decision processes.
Closed – Implemented
On May 8, 2011, the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and the Director, Joint Staff issued a memorandum that established the Global Posture Executive Council to implement, effective immediately, the global defense posture business rules and oversee the formal posture process and manage the global defense posture realignment efforts, which include the services' domestic basing processes. As a result, OSD identified and established an office with a clear role to exercise management control over the military services' basing decision processes that implemented our recommendation.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should establish guidance for the services to ensure that they fully consider joint use of DOD facilities, impacts to global operations, and other departmentwide initiatives during the course of their basing processes.
Closed – Implemented
On May 8, 2011, the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and the Director, Joint Staff issued a memorandum that established guidance to the military services to evaluate their requirements inside the U.S. that are essential or integrally linked to providing opportunities for joint use to achieve the proper end-state for their forces. As a result, in 2013, OSD issued a supplemental theater posture plan guide that took action to establish policy and guidance to the military services to ensure that they fully consider joint use of DOD facilities, impacts to global operations, and other departmentwide initiatives during the course of the military services basing decision processes, which implemented our recommendation.

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Topics

Agency missionsDefense capabilitiesDefense economic analysisDefense operationsDocumentationEducationEvaluation criteriaInternal controlsMilitary facilitiesMilitary forcesNaval facilitiesRisk assessmentStandardsStrategic planningDecision makingPolicies and procedures