Defense Infrastructure: DOD Needs to Improve Oversight of Relocatable Facilities and Develop a Strategy for Managing Their Use across the Military Services

In June 2009, we found that OSD did not have adequate oversight and management over the military services' use of relocatable facilities to meet its physical infrastructure shortages and that OSD data for relocatable facilities was inaccurate and incomplete because OSD had not provided the services with a clear definition of relocatable facilities. We recommended that OSD improve its oversight and management of the military services' use of relocatable facilities by clarifying OSD guidance on the definition of relocatable facilities. On July 5, 2012, an OSD official confirmed that its DOD Instruction on relocatable facilities is complete, ready for publication in the next couple of weeks, and provides an updated definition of relocatable facilities. As a result, the services have a clear definition of relocatable facilities, which should improve OSD's oversight and management to be able to reliability determine the extent to which the services are relying on relocatable facilities to meet shortages in needed facilities.

In June 2009, we found that OSD did not fully know the number of relocatable facilities and the associated cost to acquire these facilities and recommended that DOD develop a mechanism for collecting and maintaining complete and reliable data on the number of relocatable facilities used by the military services and on the costs of acquiring them. On July 5, 2012, an OSD official confirmed that they have taken action to implement our recommendation in that the updated DOD Instruction 4165.56 on relocatable facilities now requires all DOD components, which includes the military services, to report inventory of relocatable facilities on a standard spreadsheet at the end of each fiscal year to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. The standard spreadsheet for the relocatable facilities inventory report is viewed as the mechanism for collecting data on the number and costs of these relocatable facilities. The inventory report includes, among other collected data, the installation where located, year acquired, whether the relocatable was purchased or leased, size, site preparation costs, and replacement or disposal plan. As a result, this DOD-required standard spreadsheet for the relocatable facilities inventory report ensures consistent reporting across the DOD components, which includes the military services, and meets the intent of our recommendation.

In June 2009, we found that OSD does not have a strategy to manage the use, disposal, and redistribution of relocatable facilities across all the services, including projected costs. Without a strategy that includes provisions for the disposal of relocatable facilities, including projected costs, some relocatable facilities could remain in place for years to come including the transfer of relocatables from one location to another. For example, a military service could unnecessarily spend funds by simultaneously acquiring new facilities while another military service is incurring costs to store or demolish similar facilities. On July 5, 2012, an OSD official confirmed that its updated DOD Instruction 4165.56 on relocatable facilities requires the military services to report inventory of relocatable facilities on a standard spreadsheet at the end of each fiscal year to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. As a result, according to the OSD official, the information collected in this annual report will help OSD to more effectively manage the inventory of relocatable facilities. For example, the annual inventory report will account for the relocatable facilities as real property or personal property, which is important for determining the existing guidance for redistributing and disposing those types of property. In addition, the OSD official noted that the military services' annual inventory report for relocatable facilities supports OSD's efforts to ensure that it uses those facilities for the intended purpose and timeframe.