To enable DOD to close unneeded bases and realign others, Congress enacted legislation that instituted BRAC rounds in 1988, 1991, 1993, and 1995. A special commission established for the 1988 round made realignment and closure recommendations to the Senate and House Committees on Armed Services. For the 1991, 1993, and 1995 rounds, special BRAC Commissions were set up, as required by legislation, to make specific recommendations to the President, who in turn sent the commissions’ recommendations and his approval to Congress. The four commissions generated 499 recommendations—97 major closures and hundreds of smaller base realignments, closures, and other actions. Of the 499 recommendations, 451 required action; the other 48 were modified in some way by a later commission. DOD was required to complete BRAC realignment and closure actions for the 1988 round by September 30, 1995, and for the 1991, 1993, and 1995 rounds within 6 years from the date the President forwarded the recommended actions to Congress. DOD reported that as of September 30, 2001, it had taken all necessary actions to implement the recommendations of the BRAC Commissions for the four rounds. As a result, DOD estimated that it had reduced its domestic infrastructure by about 20 percent. While DOD has closed or realigned bases as recommended by the various BRAC Commissions, other actions, such as the cleanup of environmentally contaminated property and the subsequent transfer of unneeded property to other users, were allowed to continue beyond the 6-year implementation period for each round. Once DOD no longer needs BRAC property, the property is considered excess and is offered to other federal agencies. As shown in figure 1, any property that is not taken by other federal agencies is then considered surplus and is disposed of through a variety of means to state and local governments, local redevelopment authorities, or private parties. The various methods as noted in figure 1 to convey unneeded property to parties external to the U.S. government are targeted, in many cases, to a particular end-use for the property. For example, under a public benefit conveyance, state and local governments and local redevelopment authorities acquire surplus DOD property for such purposes as schools, parks, and airports for little or no cost. Under an economic development conveyance, property is transferred for uses that promote economic recovery and job creation. Conservation conveyances, which were recently introduced in the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003, provide for the transfer of property to qualified not- for-profit groups for natural resource and conservation purposes. Property can, in other cases, also be conveyed to nonfederal parties through the other cited methods as shown in figure 1 without regard, in many cases, to a particular end-use. Property can, for example, be sold or special congressional legislation can dictate transfer to a particular entity. In the early years of BRAC, DOD was projecting higher revenue from land sales than it subsequently experienced. DOD had originally projected about $4.7 billion in revenue from such sales for the four closure rounds; however, according to the fiscal year 2005 budget, total land sales and related revenue were about $595 million for those rounds. The decrease in expected sales is attributable primarily to national policy changes and legislation that emphasize assisting communities that are losing bases. Nonetheless, in recent years the Navy has expressed a renewed interest in the sale of BRAC property with the sale of some unneeded property at the former Tustin Marine Corps Air Station in California for $208.5 million. Moreover, the Navy has also indicated that it intends to sell portions of the former Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico. To what extent sales will play more of a role in disposing of unneeded property arising from the 2005 BRAC round remains to be seen. Reducing excess infrastructure and generating savings for the department were the key reasons for conducting the prior BRAC rounds. The net savings for implementing BRAC actions are arrived at by deducting the costs necessary to implement those actions from the estimated savings generated by the resulting reduction in excess infrastructure. These savings are most often cost avoidances—costs that DOD might have incurred if BRAC actions had not taken place. Some of the savings are one-time (e.g., canceled military construction projects), but most often represent an avoidance of recurring spending (e.g., personnel reductions). In this respect, eliminating or reducing recurring base support (e.g., physical security, fire protection, utilities, property maintenance, accounting, payroll, and a variety of other services) costs at closed and realigned bases is a major component of BRAC savings. The value of these recurring savings has become the largest and most important portion of BRAC’s overall estimated savings. DOD must comply with cleanup standards and processes under applicable laws, regulations, and executive orders in conducting assessments and cleanup of its unneeded base property. The time needed to accomplish cleanup activities can extend many years beyond the 6 years allowed under BRAC legislation for ceasing military operations and closing bases. The status of cleanup efforts can also affect the transfer of title from DOD to other users. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) provides the framework for responding to most contamination problems resulting from hazardous waste disposal practices, leaks, spills, or other activity that has created a public health or environmental risk. DOD performs its cleanups in coordination with regulatory agencies and, as appropriate, with other potentially responsible parties, including current property owners. While CERCLA had originally authorized property transfers only after cleanup actions had been taken, the act was amended in 1996 to expedite transfer of contaminated property under certain conditions under a so-called early transfer authority. While use of this authority does allow for the possible concurrent cleanup and reuse of the property, the requirement remains that contaminated sites must be cleaned up to ensure that transferred BRAC property is not harmful to human health or the environment and that it can support new use. We have reported on base closure issues from the prior BRAC rounds on several occasions (see app. VI). Although some of our reports have focused on concerns about implementation actions at a specific location, in December 1998 and April 2002 we issued two broader BRAC status reports addressing DOD-wide closure issues. These reports discussed the magnitude and precision of cost and savings estimates, the progress of environmental cleanup and property transfer, and the impact on communities and their recovery. We also issued reports in July and August 2001 that updated closure-related implementation data and reaffirmed the primary results of our prior work. A brief summary of these reports is as follows: In our December 1998 report, we concluded that BRAC actions were on track. Cost and savings estimates were substantial but not precise because the services had not routinely updated their savings estimates, as they had their cost estimates. Environmental cleanup was progressing, but it was costly and time consuming. Property disposal was progressing slowly because of factors that were not completely under DOD’s control and that were difficult to manage, such as identifying recipients for the property and associated transfer planning and addressing environmental concerns. Most communities where bases had closed were recovering, and a majority was faring well economically relative to key national economic indicators. In our July 2001 report, we concluded that estimated BRAC net savings had reportedly increased to $15.5 billion from the $14 billion we reported in our December 1998 report. Accumulated savings began to surpass accumulated costs in fiscal year 1998. We observed that BRAC savings were real and substantial, but limitations existed in DOD’s effort to track costs and savings that affect the precision of its estimates. In our August 2001 report, we concluded that BRAC closing and realignment actions were essentially completed, but the subsequent transfer of unneeded base property was only partially completed. Environmental cleanup was progressing but would require many years to fully complete. Most communities were recovering from the economic impacts of base closures because of several factors, such as a strong national or regional economy and federal assistance programs. In our April 2002 report, we concluded that most (about 58 percent) former unneeded base property had not yet been transferred to other users, the closure process was generating substantial savings (about $16.7 billion, although the savings estimates were imprecise), the total expected environmental cleanup costs were still within range of the cost estimates made in 1996, and most communities surrounding closed bases were faring well economically in relation to key national economic indicators. As of September 30, 2004, nearly 72 percent (364,000 acres) of the approximately 504,000 acres of unneeded BRAC property from the prior rounds had been transferred to other federal or nonfederal entities. When leased land is added to this acreage, the amount of unneeded BRAC property that is in reuse increases to 90 percent. The remaining untransferred property (140,000 acres) has not been transferred primarily because of environmental cleanup issues. DOD has used and continues to use several methods to transfer property and expedite its reuse. Of the approximately 504,000 unneeded acres available for disposal external to DOD, 72 percent had been transferred to either federal or nonfederal entities, while 28 percent, including leased acreage, remains in DOD’s inventory. DOD has made progress in transferring property in the aggregate since our 2002 report, having increased the transfer rate from 42 percent to 72 percent (see fig. 2). The transfers of property at the Naval Air Facility in Adak, Alaska, and the Sierra Army Depot, California, are the largest transfers since our April 2002 report, accounting for a combined total of nearly 129,000 acres. A breakdown of the current status of unneeded BRAC property shows that (1) 52 percent had been transferred to nonfederal entities, (2) 20 percent had been transferred to other federal agencies, (3) 18 percent had been leased but not transferred, and (4) 10 percent was untransferred and is awaiting future disposition (see fig. 3).