Observations on the Analyses Supporting Proposed Closures and Realignments

GAO discussed its analysis of the Secretary of Defense's April 1991 recommendations of military bases for closure and realignment and the selection process that the military services used. GAO found that: (1) the Department of Defense (DOD) did not actively oversee the process by which the military services chose bases for closing and realigning and services inconsistently applied DOD policy guidance; (2) the Army's methodology and techniques for selecting installations for closure or realignment provided a reasonable approach for identifying fighting and maneuver training bases; (3) the Air Force's process for evaluating installations was a generally reasonable approach for identifying potential closure and realignment candidates; (4) inadequate documentation of the Navy's selection process made it difficult to evaluate the relative military value of bases; (5) the Navy did not establish required controls to ensure data accuracy; (6) the Cost of Base Realignment Action model addressed a full range of factors for estimating the costs, savings, and payback period related to closure and realignment actions; and (7) DOD called for submission of cost estimates expressed in fiscal year (FY) 1991 dollars, but two services used budget data for other than FY 1991 dollars as their baselines for estimating costs and savings.