MCPP-N consists of six climate-controlled caves spread across central Norway that are used for the storage of U.S.-owned munitions and ground equipment. In addition, the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organization manages two aviation maintenance facilities that contain U.S.-owned aviation support equipment, co-located at Norwegian airfields, and a pier used for offloading equipment from ships. Figure 1 identifies the locations of these caves, airfield maintenance facilities, and the pier. According to Marine Corps officials, the Norwegian government completed construction of a new pier near the cave at Hammernesodden in July 2014 to facilitate the ability of large U.S. ships to transport large combat vehicles and other equipment into central Norway. Marine Corps and Norwegian officials stated that this pier was paid for solely by the Norwegian government at a cost of approximately $22.5 million (see figure 2). In August 2014 the Navy and the Marine Corps transported a large shipment of combat and other equipment to Norway in support of a transformation to a Marine Air Ground Task Force capability, according to Marine Corps Blount Island Command and Norwegian officials. The equipment transported for storage in the six caves included variants of the M1114 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), M1A1 Main Battle Tanks, Tank Retrievers, Armored Breeching Vehicles, Amphibious Assault Vehicles, and several variants of the Medium Tactical Vehicle 7 ½-ton trucks. The photographs below (figs. 3 and 4) show the offloading of the USNS Williams at the newly constructed pier at Hammernesodden and provide an example of the type of ground equipment used to support a Marine Air Ground Task Force that can be found at MCPP-N caves. As part of the 2005 memorandum of understanding between the United States and Norway, the United States will provide military equipment to be stored in the Norwegian-built caves, and Norway will provide the infrastructure to support the program and will maintain the equipment provided by the United States. Both countries agree to share the program’s operations and maintenance expenses. Under the cost-sharing portion of the agreement, each country agrees to match the other’s financial contributions up to an agreed upon threshold, which in fiscal year 2014 was $10.5 million each. The cost-sharing agreement does set a maximum contribution by Norway, limiting its contribution either to half of the total costs incurred or to the ceiling set in U.S. dollars to be negotiated, whichever is less. Table 1 below illustrates the Marine Corps and Navy’s total annual contributions covering the actual direct and indirect programmatic costs for MCPP-N from fiscal years 2010 to 2014. According to officials from the office of the Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps for Installations and Logistics, the direct costs for MCPP-N include all operations and maintenance expenses incurred by the Marine Corps for both ground equipment and aviation support equipment. In addition, indirect costs cover administrative expenses incurred by Blount Island Command and other Marine Corps organizations as part of the execution of the program. Five organizations are responsible for the support and operation of MCPP-N. Four Marine Corps organizations are responsible for the planning, funding, and management of MCPP-N. The fifth organization, the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organization, is responsible for providing program infrastructure and maintaining MCPP-N equipment prepositioned in Norway. Table 2 below summarizes the primary roles and responsibilities of each organization. The Marine Corps is changing its mix of equipment to address the U.S. European and U.S. Africa commands’ strategic and theater-specific operational requirements. Both combatant commands have identified in their contingency plans the need for prepositioned equipment within their respective geographic areas to support their operational requirements and capabilities. The U.S. European Command’s Theater Posture Plan identifies Trondheim, Norway, as a stand-alone prepositioning site for MCPP-N capable of providing equipment to a wide variety of operations. In addition, officials from the U.S. European Command stated that they have developed and are continuing to develop contingency plans that specifically call upon the Marine Corps to maintain prepositioned equipment in Europe to support strategic and theater-specific operational requirements. Although those U.S. Africa Command plans that reference a need for access to prepositioned equipment do not specifically identify MCPP-N as an asset to meet that need, both Marine Corps and U.S. Africa Command officials stated that MCPP-N has served and can continue to serve as a global support asset to meet combatant command requirements. Both U.S. European and U.S. Africa Command identify prepositioned equipment in their contingency plans as providing capabilities to support efforts such as crisis response, humanitarian and disaster assistance, and counter-terrorism activities. The Marine Corps reported that it routinely uses MCPP-N equipment sets to support European training and exercises, including the biennial Cold Response exercise in Norway, which trains U.S., Norwegian, and other NATO-allied military forces to operate in cold weather environments; and an annual training activity to carry out security cooperation efforts with the Marine Corps’ Black Sea Rotational Force and other foreign militaries. Marine Corps officials stated that MCPP-N equipment has been used to support training and exercises across the African continent, including the Shared Accord and African Lion exercises, and could be used for other assistance efforts in Africa. From February 1991 to March 2014 the Marine Corps reported that it withdrew equipment from MCPP-N caves in support of training, exercises, and operations within Europe, Africa, Iraq, and Afghanistan. These principal end items included tanks, amphibious armored vehicles, light armored vehicles, trucks, and tractors. Marine Corps officials estimated during this period that more than 3,000 principal end items were withdrawn from MCPP-N in support of various training and exercise events, and more than 2,000 principal end items were withdrawn in support of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Further, officials estimated more than 150 principal end items were withdrawn to support other contingency operations within the European Command’s geographic area, ranging from supporting a Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force in Spain to providing humanitarian assistance in Turkey and the Republic of Georgia. Marine Corps officials estimated that about 50,000 non-principal end items such as sandbags, rations, tents, and cots were withdrawn from MCPP-N over the same period to support various training and exercises as well as contingency operations in Europe, Africa, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In addition, Marine Corps officials reported that MCPP-N equipment was used to provide humanitarian and disaster relief assistance in response to a major earthquake in Turkey in 2011 and wildfires in Russia in 2010. Further, Marine Corps officials stated that the same equipment used for training in cold weather environments could also support DOD’s Arctic Strategy for potential military operations in the Arctic regions, although officials stated that the Marine Corps has conducted no such operations to date. In January 2012 the Commandant of the Marine Corps issued planning guidance that called for MCPP-N to be able to support a Marine Air Ground Task Force. Subsequently, the Marine Corps began its effort to change the mix of equipment found at MCPP-N storage facilities. This change occurred as a response to DOD’s efficiency initiatives, to strengthen the effectiveness of MCPP-N, and to bolster the Marine Corps’ prepositioning capabilities. In addition, as a result of the Department of the Navy’s decision to discontinue in 2012 a maritime prepositioning ship squadron located within the Mediterranean, the U.S. European Command has heightened its reliance on MCPP-N to support its prepositioning requirements. The Marine Corps guidance specifically calls for MCPP-N to be able to support a force of approximately 4,500 Marines to respond to the first 2 weeks of combat at the mid-intensity conflict level of the range of military operations, and to support theater security cooperation activities. Marine Corps officials stated that the equipment set at MCPP-N is intended to provide the capabilities to enable a Marine Corps force to respond to any type of crisis or operation globally, and thus MCPP-N is not assigned to any specific combatant command. To ensure that MCPP-N effectively meets the Marine Corps’ needs and better aligns with combatant command strategic and theater-specific operational requirements, the Marine Corps annually updates the mix of equipment found at MCPP-N storage facilities in Norway. The current prepositioning objective, which was last revised in February 2015, calls for MCPP-N to support crisis response-type missions and theater security cooperation engagement activities for the combatant commands. It also calls for an equipment set that includes combat equipment such as HMMWVs, light armored vehicles, amphibious armored vehicles, and Abrams tanks necessary to support mid-intensity conflicts. Marine Corps officials stated that as of March 2015 MCPP-N had acquired 63 percent of the equipment it needed to meet its current prepositioning objective. Marine Corps officials we interviewed observed, however, that this attainment level of equipment may change periodically, depending on the Marine Corps’ identified prepositioning needs, as the prepositioning objective is generally revised on an annual basis. Marine Corps cost estimates for sustaining the equipment to support a Marine Air Ground Task Force capability may not be fully reliable, in that they do not fully meet the four general characteristics for reliable cost estimating—that is, being accurate, well-documented, credible, and comprehensive—as identified in GAO’s Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide. Reliable cost estimates provide the basis for informed investment decision making and realistic budget formulation and program resourcing. Each year, the Logistics Plans and Operations Branch of the Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps for Installations and Logistics consolidates the Marine Corps’ portion of direct program costs for MCPP-N in support of developing a consolidated and comprehensive budget estimate for the program objective memorandum.