Some Members of Congress have expressed concern that the cost of redeveloping closed military property may place a burden on local communities. On March 12, 2009, Senator Olympia Snowe (Maine) introduced in the 111 th Congress on behalf of herself and Senator Mark L. Pryor (Arkansas), the "Defense Communities Assistance Act of 2009" ( S. 590 ). As stated under its Section 2 (Sense of Congress), the legislation is intended to assist communities located near military installations "to either recover quickly from [military base] closures or to accommodate growth associated with troop influxes" brought on by the movement of troops and activities as part of "base closures and realignments, global repositioning, and grow the force initiatives." Representative Chellie Pingree (Maine) introduced the "Defense Communities Redevelopment Act of 2009" ( H.R. 1959 ) on April 2, 2009. The bill duplicates the no-cost conveyance section of S. 590 . Representative Sam Farr, of California, introduced H.R. 2295 on May 7 on behalf of himself, Representative Kay Granger (Texas), Representative Pingree, and Representative William Delahunt (Massachusetts) as an identical companion bill to S. 590 . The three Senate and House bills have been referred to their respective Committees on Armed Services. 10 USC § 2689 authorizes the Secretary of Defense or any military department (Army, Navy, or Air Force) to convey real property to any legal entity in exchange for either other real property to limit encroachment that might restrict military activities or for housing at or near a military installation that is experiencing a housing shortage. The Secretary may transfer only property under his jurisdiction that is located on an installation being closed or realigned. Until his authority to do so expired on September 30, 2008, the Secretary could also use this conveyance authority for any other military property declared excess to defense needs. The fair market value of the property, as determined by the Secretary, received in the exchange must be at least equal to that being conveyed. Should the received property's value be less than that exchanged, the person must pay the United States an amount equal to the difference. Advance notice of any conveyance under this section must be announced in a manner prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. When military property is to be conveyed by public sale, the Secretary concerned may notify prospective purchasers that consideration may take the form described. The Secretary is required to notify Congress of a prospective conveyance and wait for a period of between 14 and 60 days before entering into an agreement. The Secretary of Defense is required to report annually on his use of this authority. Section 3 of S. 590 / H.R. 2295 would reinstate the Secretary's authority to transfer property at any military installation, regardless of its closure or realignment status "without limitation on duration," rendering it permanent. 10 U.S.C. § 2465 prohibits the Department of Defense (DOD) from entering into a contract "for the performance of firefighting or security-guard functions at any military installation or facility." Another provision of law, 10 USC § 2461 note, requires a public-private competition under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76 before any DOD function being performed by 10 or more DOD civilian employees can be converted to performance by a contractor. Amendments to that statute authorize the Secretaries of the military departments to carry out pilot programs to contract with a county or municipality for certain municipal services. The permitted services include refuse collection, refuse disposal, library services, recreation services, facility maintenance and repair, and utilities. The number of installations permitted to be included in the pilot project is limited to three per military service, and all must be located within the United States. All pilot program contracts must terminate not later than September 30, 2012. S. 590 / H.R. 2295 would create a new statute, 10 U.S.C. 2465a, that would permanently authorize military department secretaries to enter into an unrestricted number of contracts with "a county, municipal government, or other local governmental unit in the geographic area in which [an] installation is located" for the provision of the same municipal services as the pilot program. The new authority would permit the Secretary concerned to use "other than competitive procedures" if the contract would not exceed five years in duration, if he determines that the price for contracted municipal services represents least cost to the federal government, and if his supporting business case describes alternative sources and establishes that contract performance will not increase costs to the federal government. The authority to make the necessary determinations could not be delegated below the level of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Installations and Environment (or DOD equivalent). The Secretary would have to notify the Committee on Armed Services of the House and of the Senate of any such contract 14 days before it could become effective. Subsection (c) of this section of the proposed amendment appears to reference the original pilot program for contracted municipal services. The pilot program was originally created under Section 325(f) of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 and authorized only the Secretary of the Army to initiate two such contracts that would terminate not later than September 30, 2010. A 2008 amendment expanded the pilot program to all military departments, raised the limit to three contracts in each, and reset the termination date to September 30, 2012. This new legislation would permit these pilot program contracts to terminate as late as September 30, 2020. Section 211 of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 ( P.L. 99-499 ) required the Secretary of Defense to establish a Defense Environmental Restoration Program to clean up environmental contamination and address other safety hazards on current and former military installations in the United States, subject to appropriations. The Secretary is authorized to enter into agreements to reimburse other entities for expenses they may incur in participating in the cleanup of a military installation under this program. These other entities that are eligible for reimbursement include: other federal agencies, state, territorial, or local agencies, Indian tribes, nonprofit conservation organizations, and owners of "covenant" property. This latter category refers to owners of former military property conveyed with a deed that includes a covenant stating the continuing cleanup responsibility of the United States. Section 120(h) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) generally requires contaminated federal property to be cleaned up prior to transfer out of federal ownership. However, additional cleanup may be needed after the transfer if the contamination was found not to have been sufficiently remediated. To address such situations, Section 120(h)(3) requires the deed to a transferred federal property to include a covenant stating the continuing responsibility of the United States to conduct additional cleanup that may be needed subsequent to transfer. Such a covenant must be included in the deed to all surplus federal property transferred out of federal ownership, on which a hazardous substance was stored for one year or more, was known to have been released, or was disposed of. If the owner of the covenant property wishes to perform cleanup actions that may be necessary after acquiring ownership, the Secretary may enter into an agreement with the owner to reimburse its costs, as the United States ultimately would be responsible for those actions under the covenant. Historically, the Secretary has most often exercised this agreement authority to reimburse states for the expenses they incur in participating in cleanup decisions at military installations within their jurisdictions. As of the end of FY2007, the Department of Defense had entered into cooperative agreements with 47 states, the District of Columbia, and 4 U.S. territories, to govern the types of expenses that are eligible for reimbursement. These agreements typically allow the reimbursement of expenses that a state or territory may incur in exercising its statutory right under Section 120(f) of CERCLA to participate in the planning and selection of a "remedial" action to clean up a federal facility, including the review of available data and the development of studies, reports, and plans. Under current law, states cannot be reimbursed under these agreements for the costs of enforcement actions they may take against the Department of Defense for failure to carry out a planned cleanup action or to comply with other cleanup requirements. Whether enforcement action taken by a state may affect the Secretary's willingness to enter into, or renew, an agreement with such state to reimburse expenses it may incur in participating in cleanup decisions. Nevertheless, the Secretary is not required to enter into these reimbursement agreements, but may do so at his discretion. This section of the proposed legislation would expand the scope of current law to allow the Secretary to enter into agreements for reimbursement of expenses that other entities may incur in "processing" a transfer of federal property, before or after cleanup is performed. Like the agreements for reimbursement of expenses associated with cleanup, the Secretary would not be required to enter into agreements for reimbursement of these processing expenses. Rather, the Secretary would be authorized to do so at his discretion. Although the title of the section, "Reimbursable Activities under the Defense-State Memorandum of Agreement Program," implies that this provision would apply only to agreements with states, the entities that would be eligible for reimbursement of these processing expenses would be the same as those under current law for reimbursement of expenses associated with cleanup: other federal agencies; state, tribal, or local agencies; Indian tribes; nonprofit conservation organizations; and owners of covenant property. The section does not define what activities would constitute the "processing" of a transfer of federal property, making it unclear as to what specific activities would qualify for reimbursement. Absent such definition in statute, the Secretary presumably would have the discretion to determine what processing expenses may be eligible for reimbursement. In practice, a recipient of federal property could incur legal or administrative expenses in the process of acquiring a property, in addition to the actual cost of the property itself, if payment is required to provide fair market or other value in exchange for the property.