Assistant Secretary Nelson F. Gibbs recently commented on International Risk Group's privatization of Lowry AFB. The key comment that I want to draw your attention to is:
"Investment in more efficient contracting approaches at our closure installations has successfully produced faster cleanup initiatives at significant cost savings. For example, a privatization contract at the former Lowry Air Force Base, CO will reduce our cleanup period from 28 years to 11 years at a cost savings of $13 million."
- Assistant Secretary, Nelson F. Gibbs, March 18, 2003 at Senate Appropriations Committee, Military Construction Subcommittee
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY 
LENGTH: 1562 words
COMMITTEE: SENATE APPROPRIATIONS
SUBCOMMITTEE: MILITARY CONSTRUCTION
HEADLINE: FISCAL 2004:BASE REALIGNMENT AND CLOSURE
TESTIMONY-BY: NELSON F. GIBBS, ASSISTANT SECRETARY
AFFILIATION: AIR FORCE
Statement of Nelson F. Gibbs Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Installations, Environment and Logistics Committee on Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction
March 18, 2003
Introduction
Madam Chairman and members of the committee, good morning. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you to discuss the Department of the Air Force Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program. Today, I will share with the committee our progress in transitioning the installations identified for closure or realignment in previous rounds of BRAC and how we are preparing to execute an additional round of base closures in 2005.
One of the most effective tools we have to transform the military is through the BRAC process. The previous four rounds of BRAC approved 22 Air Force installations for closure and 17 realignment actions, and the Air Force completed each action within its statutory deadline.
We rationalized much of our infrastructure through the previous BRAC rounds - but much more needs to be accomplished. Transformation requires rationalizing our base structure to better match the force structure for the new ways of doing business. Congress authorized a Base Realignment and Closure in 2005 to accomplish this "base transformation". BRAC 05 is the means for the Air Force to align our infrastructure to maximize warfighting capability efficiency, and meet the Nation's new defense strategy. Through BRAC 05, we will eliminate excess capacity that drains our scarce resources from defense capability.
2005 Base Realignment and Closure
The Air Force views the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process as a unique opportunity to reshape our infrastructure to optimize military readiness and to ensure we are most efficiently postured to meet new security challenges. In January of this year, we established a Basing and Infrastructure Analysis group within Headquarters Air Force. This office will serve as the Air Force focal point for the BRAC 05 process.
Our major commands are following suit with creating their own analysis structures to support the BRAC process. As in previous rounds of base closures, we are establishing a Base Closure Executive Group (BCEG) composed of general officers and senior civilians representing a variety of functional areas, including those with ranges and airspace operational expertise. The Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary for Basing and Infrastructure Analysis participates in meetings with his counterparts in OSD and the other services on BRAC 05 planning issues and also on the composition of the joint cross service teams. The Air Force is also working on building up it's BRAC 05 staff in order to ensure the appropriate degree of corporate attention and expertise is given to this effort. The Air Force leadership is committed to meeting the BRAC 05 statutory deadlines and ensuring our analytical processes are comprehensive and auditable.
Base Conversion
The Air Force continues to work with the local reuse authority at each closed and realigned bases from rounds of BRAC to minimize the impact on local communities from the closures. The Air Force is disposing of over 87,000-acres at 32 locations. Base conversion efforts have led to the creation of over 48,000 jobs in a variety of reuses, including industrial, aviation, commercial, residential and educational activities. Thirteen airports have been created, significantly contributing to the United States civil aviation system. Colleges expanded their operations, hospitals and senior citizen housing complexes developed, industrial uses ranging from biotechnology to a state- of-the art sawmill were created, child care centers, aircraft maintenance operations, hotels, restaurants --- the list just goes on and on. The important thing is these former installations are not sitting idle; they are being transferred and used by communities, contributing to their economic redevelopment and providing valuable jobs for their people.
Successful redevelopment relies on the transfer of property to the local communities.
The Air Force has deeded almost 60 percent of our BRAC property. We continue to increase the amount of deeded-acres for all rounds projecting over 70 percent of our total-acreage will be transferred by the end of Fiscal Year 2003. Over 90 percent of the property has transitioned to reuse, either by deed or utilizing long-term leases in furtherance of conveyance. The lease arrangement allows the community to use the property for economic development while we finish our environmental cleanup responsibilities. Once cleanup remedies are in place, the contract we have with the community calls for us to convert the lease to a deed. This has proven to be an extremely successful tool for transitioning property for early reuse.
BRAC Environmental
While these facilities are being returned to their respective communities, the Air Force has a continuing responsibility for environmental cleanup from past operations and industrial activities. The Air Force approaches this responsibility at our BRAC installations with the same prudent environmental stewardship as at our active installations.
Since 1991, we have spent approximately $2.2 billion in environmental cleanup activities at our closure installations, and for Fiscal Year 2004, the Air Force is requesting $176 million to continue cleanup efforts. This request allocates about 70 percent for actual installation of cleanup systems, cleanup systems operations, and long-term management. The Air Force projects that over $2 billion is needed in future years to complete our ongoing BRAC cleanup requirements. We look forward to working with the Congress as we meet these goals in our future budget submissions.
As the Air Force moves forward with our BRAC environmental cleanup program, we are seeing the results of investments made over the last several years. Since 1999, 12 of the 30 locations that have environmental restoration programs have achieved last remedy in place (LRIP) with 9 more locations scheduled to reach LRIP this Fiscal Year. This is a significant milestone as it means all cleanup remedies are in place and operating successfully. While some of those systems may be in place for many years to come, the Air Force ensures there is no harm to human health or the environment during the operations process. The $176 million requested for Fiscal Year 2004 will lead to six bases attaining LRIP in Fiscal Year 2004. The Air Force plans for all our bases to achieve LRIP status in Fiscal Year 2005, except McClellan Air Force Base, CA, which was one of our major maintenance, repair and overhaul centers that closed in 2001.
Investment in more efficient contracting approaches at our closure installations has successfully produced faster cleanup initiatives at significant cost savings. For example, a privatization contract at the former Lowry Air Force Base, CO, will reduce our cleanup period from 28 years to 11 years at a cost savings of $13 million. More importantly, it enables us to transfer the property to the local reuse authority prior to cleanup using an early transfer authority. The reuse authority actually contracts for the cleanup and works with the environmental regulators. We agreed up-front to a level of cleanup and negotiated a price based on their ability to meet our cleanup goals. This is a win-win for both the community and the Air Force, as it gives the community more control over the process and it allows the Air Force to transfer the property. The Air Force is also pursuing the use of performance-based contracting for its cleanup actions. Similar to privatization, we will identify performance goals and rather than dictating the cleanup remedy, we will award the contract based on a cleanup goal. The Air Force plans to position 20 percent of our environmental program on performance-based contracts this fiscal year. As a result of these initiatives, the Air Force BRAC environmental program has successfully closed 1,100 of our 1,671 environmental cleanup sites.
Challenges
In light of our successful execution of the BRAC program, the Air Force continues to address important real estate and environmental challenges. As we prepare for BRAC 05, the Air Force is addressing a key real estate issue - how to more efficiently transfer property. We are already looking at lessons learned from the previous rounds of BRAC to identify ways to improve the process so that we can improve our processes for transferring property and accomplishing cleanup. We think some of our initiatives accomplished this already, but we recognize there is room for improvement. Our goal is to maximize BRAC savings to the Department of Defense and expedite reuse.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we thank the committee for its support of an additional round of base closure in 2005 and of the Air Force's current Base Realignment and Closure Program. The closures and realignments of the previous rounds of BRAC allow us to use the savings on other Air Force requirements every year. With your help, we are meeting the need for community reuse while providing quality environmental cleanup efforts to ensure the protection of human health and the environment. We will approach BRAC 05 with the same commitment. I will be happy to address any questions.
