On September 14, 2001, President Bush proclaimed a national emergency in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In his proclamation, he said he would use various sections of Title 10 of the United States Code to mobilize additional forces. Section 12302, in particular, authorizes the President to call up National Guard and Reserve members to active duty for up to 2 years. Since September 2001, DOD has activated about 300,000 of the 1.2 million National Guard and Reserve personnel. As of October 8, 2003, about 166,000 Reserve and National Guard members remained on active duty. Some of the reservists were assigned to domestic military installations to provide, for example, base security. When reserve members are mobilized to serve on active duty at military installations in the United States, the installations where they serve arrange lodging for them. If lodging is not available on base, installations may provide activated reservists with Certificates of Non-Availability enabling them to acquire off-base lodging in the local area at prevailing GSA rates. Because of the size and length of the current mobilization, some installations, like MacDill Air Force Base, made arrangements with local hotels and apartment vendors to provide reservists with off-base lodging. The 6th Contracting Squadron at MacDill was responsible for developing the BPAs, and the 6th Services Squadron/Military Lodging was in charge of assigning reservists to available lodging. Because mobilized National Guard and Reserve personnel are considered to be in temporary duty status, their per-diem, travel, and transportation allowances are governed by DOD’s Joint Federal Travel Regulations. A per-diem allowance is designed to offset the cost of lodging, meals, and incidental expenses incurred by reservists while they are on travel status or on temporary duty away from their permanent duty station. DOD’s regulations state that within the continental United States, travelers are entitled to the per diem set by GSA for a particular location. Specifically, if a contracting officer contracts for rooms and/or meals for members traveling on temporary duty, the total daily amount paid by the government for the member’s lodging, meals, and incidental expenses may not exceed the applicable GSA per-diem rate. In December 2002, CENTCOM established plans for providing working quarters at MacDill for coalition partners supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and titled the project Coalition Village II. The project was modeled after similar working quarters established at MacDill for coalition partners supporting the war on terrorism, Coalition Village I. Representatives from CENTCOM and Civil Engineering supported the 6th Contracting Squadron, which provides contracting support to MacDill’s base tenant units, in its efforts to establish Coalition Village II. The 6th Contracting Squadron is a part of the 6th Air Mobility Wing, which reports to the Air Mobility Command. The Air Mobility Command is a component of the United States Transportation Command. During the summer of 2003, public concerns were raised in the Tampa area about the practices used at MacDill to acquire off-base lodging for reservists and temporary office space for coalition partners in the war against Iraq. Specifically, these concerns questioned whether MacDill officials paid above-market rates for apartments; used competition in awarding BPAs for off-base lodging; and advertised for bids for lodging services. Questions were also raised about whether the contract providing office space for coalition partners supporting military operations in Iraq was adequately managed to avoid excessive costs. In order to reduce the cost of off-base lodging for 1,700 military personnel and reservists on short-term and long-term temporary duty, MacDill Air Force Base officials instituted two procedures. MacDill used BPAs as a flexible procurement method to obtain lodging at prices that were at or below the maximum allowable GSA rate of $93 per day for Tampa. MacDill also implemented installation guidance that required reservists at certain ranks to share two-bedroom apartment units that further reduced costs on a per-person basis. MacDill officials estimate that these procedures saved about $12.6 million in off-base lodging costs in fiscal year 2003. Our review showed that the prices paid by MacDill were similar to those paid by corporate entities in Tampa for comparable lodging units, but were lower on a per-person basis due to lodging sharing arrangements. Our work showed that practices used at other military installations to provide off- base lodging varied but did not reveal any one approach that resulted in more significant cost savings over other approaches, where shared lodging was required. Alternative approaches for obtaining off-base lodging, such as obtaining long-term leases for blocks of properties, could be considered but would require that various factors be weighed in considering their use. MacDill Air Force Base contracting officials used BPAs to acquire off-base lodging to handle the large influx of reservists who were mobilized following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. According to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), a BPA is a simplified method of filling anticipated, repetitive needs for supplies or services by establishing “charge accounts” with qualified sources of supply. Air Force officials had used this method to acquire off-base lodging for several years. We have no basis to conclude that the Air Force’s use of BPAs was inconsistent with the FAR. MacDill contracting officials told us that these agreements provide them with greater flexibility than contracts would in arranging temporary lodging. BPAs permit either party to walk away from the agreement without a penalty. The agreements allow federal travelers to use their government-issued travel cards to obtain lodging at hotels and apartments at reduced prices and favorable contract terms. The costs for reservists who do not have government-issued travel cards are billed to MacDill under a purchase order. MacDill officials indicated that they go through an established process to set up an agreement with an apartment vendor or hotel. The process begins when either MacDill contacts a lodging facility or a facility contacts MacDill. As part of this initial contact, MacDill schedules an inspection to ensure that the facility meets its cleanliness, safety, health, and fire standards. If the facility passes the inspection, MacDill sets up an agreement with the facility and lists the facility as a source of lodging for reservists at an agreed-upon daily rate. MacDill officials told us they review BPAs annually to ensure that their needs are still being met and to determine if the facility still meets standards. At the time of our review, MacDill had agreements with 35 vendors (29 hotels and 6 apartment providers) and was housing an average of about 1,700 personnel a day in off-base lodging facilities. Of these, about 900 were in hotels and 800 were in apartments. In September 2003, the prices that MacDill had obtained for hotel rooms ranged from $44 to $93 per person per day, and for apartment units from $55 to $93 per person per day (see table 1). The agreements with apartment vendors do not require security deposits and also allow reservists to leave earlier than their scheduled departure dates without paying penalties. Apartment rental officials told us that, in contrast, other apartment renters must give a 30-day notice before leaving or incur penalties, such as the loss of 1 month’s rent, forfeiture of the security deposit, or being held liable for the cost of the remaining term of the lease. The apartments acquired by MacDill are fully furnished. The daily rate for the apartment covers the cost of utilities, amenities (kitchenware, linens, vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens, and cable television service), and weekly maid service. Apartment vendors also do not charge reservists a 12 percent Florida tax for leases of less than 6 months, which private renters typically pay. In addition to using BPAs to procure off-base lodging for reservists, MacDill used installation-specific guidance on sharing lodging to further reduce off-base lodging costs in two-bedroom apartments. The guidance requires officers at or below the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and enlisted personnel at or below the rank of Chief Master Sergeant or Sergeant Major to share two-bedroom apartments. This practice allowed MacDill to achieve a cost savings of up to 55 percent of the GSA rate (table 1). For example, if two reservists were sharing a two-bedroom apartment that costs $93 per day, each would pay half of that amount, significantly less than the GSA daily rate of $93 per person. Of a total of 800 reservists housed in apartments, about 600 shared two-bedroom units. MacDill officials responsible for lodging operations told us that they try to place military personnel who are on temporary duty for 45 days or longer in apartments. This allows personnel to have access to cooking facilities, as well as more room than they would have in a hotel room. MacDill officials indicated that they consider three criteria in placing personnel in apartments: (1) whether or not personnel have access to transportation to get to the base, (2) whether they are compatible in terms of rank and gender to fill a vacancy in a two-bedroom apartment, and (3) if these two criteria are met, officials randomly assign personnel to a unit. However, the officials also must consider such factors as security or the ability of a particular apartment complex to accommodate an entire reserve unit. Based on data that we received from MacDill lodging officials, the base spent about $23.3 million for 386,466 bed-nights in off-base lodging, including both short- and long-term stays, in fiscal year 2003. However, had MacDill paid the maximum allowable GSA rate of $93 per day for the same number of days, the costs would have amounted to $35.9 million.