Defense Infrastructure: Changes in Funding Priorities and Strategic Planning Needed to Improve the Condition of Military Facilities

In January 2003, DOD completed the fiscal year (FY) 2004 program-budget review. At that time, OSD directed the services and Defense agencies to provide adequate funding to achieve a sustainment rate of 93 percent in FY 2004, with a plan to achieve 100 percent sustainment in FY 2006. In addition, the department plans on funding that achieves a 67-year recapitalization rate DOD-wide by FY 2008. To achieve 67-year recapitalization for the reserve components, the department has programmed significant funding in the out years to buy back their facility deficit and to improve the quality of their existing facilities.

Consistent with Executive Order 13327, which directed all major agencies to improve the management of facilities, DOD has resolved to transform and improve its facility condition reporting system. This system, called the Q rating system, collects condition ratings at the level of individual facility records, using standard cost-to-restore scales across the services. These ratings will directly support a departmentwide facilities condition index. In addition, DOD has developed a mission dependency factor--a so-called M rating--for each facility, which will be used to weight the Q rating. According to OSD officials, this process is being tested and will be fully incorporated into the department's web-enabled Defense Readiness Reporting System (DRRS) in 2008.

In 2004 DOD revised its Defense Facilities Strategic Plan and renamed it the Defense Installations Strategic Plan and updated the plan again in 2005. Both the 2004 plan and the 2005 update contain some elements--such as specific objectives, descriptions of the means and strategies to achieve each objective, specific performance goals, time frames, and responsible officials--of a comprehensive strategic plan.

In its 2004 Defense Installations Strategic Plan and the 2005/2006 update to this plan, DOD specified that each of the military services should attempt to fully fund facilities sustainment, achieve a 67-year recapitalization rate, and improve their facilities condition ratings.

The Marine Corps issued its Installations Strategic Plan in June 2004 and the Army and the Navy issued their own individual installations strategic plans in March 2005, which are companions to the 2004 Defense Installations Strategic Plan, formerly named the Defense Facilities Strategic Plan. These individual service plans provide specific metrics to measure performance in the sustainment and recapitalization of facilities.