Real Estate is executing a large and complex program with total expenditures in excess of $900M. The program includes the DoD executive agent programs such as the Joint Facilities Recruiting Program, the Homeowners Assistance Program, and the Defense National Relocation Program. The program also includes BRAC acquisitions and disposal, continued support to the Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO), and various other efforts.
Army Reserve BRAC and MCAR Acquisitions Real estate acquisition for the MCAR and BRAC program (FY2006-FY2012) supports over $3B of program construction work. Significant effort is underway by USACE Real Estate to acquire 21 sites to support the FY11 and FY12 MCAR program. All remaining BRAC acquisitions will be completed in FY11.
BRAC2005 and Legacy BRAC Disposal We are working closely with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Housing, and Partnerships) as well as the BRAC Division to establish priorities for disposal based on the environmental aspects of each site. Legacy BRAC consists of BRAC rounds in 1989, 1991, 1993, and 1995. More than 184,000 acres have been transferred, with about 25,524 or 12 percent remaining. We are utilizing various tools, such as Early Transfer authority when appropriate, to dispose of property. Additionally, we are working on disposal of more than 180 properties for BRAC2005, which includes more than 160 Reserve sites. We have successfully disposed of over 1,000 acres to date this fiscal year, and anticipate matching or disposing of even more acreage in FY2012.
DoD Recruiting Facilities Program The Recruiting Facilities Program is a program to locate and lease adequate retail and/or commercial space to upgrade and expand facilities for the Military Services. We continue to execute a program in excess of $250M annually. Other special initiatives include updating reporting tools for customers and automated business processes as relates to planning, programming, budgeting and execution.
Asset Management Congress passed the Chief Financial Officers Act in 1990, which requires accurate accounting and costing of infrastructure for the complete set of annual, audited financial statements. USACE is responsible for more than 200 billion dollars of water resource infrastructure assets that provide a diverse and critical service to the Nation. As stewards of these assets, USACE has a responsibility to sustain the infrastructure at its highest level of performance. USACE has completed audit for Civil Works financial statements, and real estate is actively updating data for all assets in preparation for the upcoming audit of military data.
Homeowners Assistance Program This program offsets some of the losses experienced when government personnel must relocate due to a DoD closure or realignment, and the government-announced action has adversely impacted the housing market at the location where the closure is happening. This program was expanded, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, in response to the mortgage and credit crisis. This program expansion authorizes benefits for three homeowner groups: (1) BRAC 2005 impacted service members and civilian employees, removed the requirement for proof of the causal relationship between the BRAC announcement and the real estate market decline (authorization expires end of FY12); (2) Service members under a military directed permanent change of station (authorization expires end of FY12; (3) Wounded, Injured, or Ill service members and DoD employees along with surviving spouses of fallen deployed personnel (enduring authorization). Over 6,200 applicants have received benefits totaling over $1.0B from this program since November 2009.
Defense National Relocation Program This program is a civilian employee relocation service, which is implemented under the Joint Travel Regulations and executed by USACE as a result of Defense Management Report Decision (DMRD 974). DNRP provides relocation services to eligible DoD civilian employees so they may quickly and efficiently sell their homes at the prior duty station and locate housing appropriate to their needs at the new duty station. DNRP services are authorized by the activity issuing PCS orders to the relocating employee. Eligible Army employees include the following groups: employees moving into or out of Senior Executive Service (SES) positions; employees moving under provisions of a mandatory mobility agreement; and employees moving as a result of a management – directed action such as a Reduction-in-Force (RIF), transfer of function, or BRAC. This program has an annual expenditure of over $100M, and will provide relocation assistance to over 2,000 transferring DoD employees in FY2011.
OCO/CONUS Natural Disaster Response Real estate plays a vital role in support of overseas military contingency operations. We currently have personnel deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq resolving complex issues regarding ownership and acquisition (leasing) and/or right to use host nation land as needed to support US military operations. We also ensure the districts have real estate staff trained and ready to respond to additonal requests from CENTCOM and ARCENT. Real estate transactions in foreign countries are extremely challenging, as we must follow local customs and title or ownership rules are unique to each country.
For CONUS natural disaster response, real estate supports through deployment of realty personnel for execution of rights-of-entry for the blue roof mission, debris removal, and to assist in leasing in leasing of land, warehouse, office space and housing.
Future Direction – 2012 and Beyond We will continue to transform real estate through business governance updates, streamlining processes, driving consistency through use of the Quality Management System and national Quality Management Plan checklists, and following metrics for our 25 products and services.