The POM review process lends itself to a more comprehensive long-term analysis of programmatic requirements and trends, and it is during the POM review that most adjustments to the outyears of the FYDP are proposed and accepted. They also assess whether the Service construction and family housing budget requests are properly priced, phased, and executable. Services have several opportunities to appeal decisions with which they do not agree. This process culminates in a major issue meeting between the Service Chiefs and Secretaries with the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The budget review does not focus on the programmatic aspects of the military construction projects.
Analysts review what is submitted subject to the criteria outlined above.
They do advise when there are significant shifts in construction funding levels and will recommend adjustments, but they do not, for the most part, recommend significant programmatic changes. The goal of the budget review process is to ensure that the POM program can be effectively and efficiently executed. The budget review process tends to focus more closely on the near term, the biennial budget years, because construction cost estimates, contract award data, and budget execution trends have a short shelf-life and are constantly changing. The principal reason why military construction funding as a percent of the overall Defense budget falls in the outyears is because BRAC funding ends in FY 2001. Basic military construction and family housing funding has not been diverted or reprogrammed to other requirements.