Costs and Cost Savings Due to Laboratory Realignments

The Advisory Commission on the Consolidation and Conversion of Defense Research and Development Laboratories is reviewing proposals for realigning several DoD research facilities. In support of this review, the military services were asked to provide the Commission with estimates of the costs and savings that would result from these realignments. IDA reviewed the estimates submitted by the services, as well as those made by opponents of the various realignments, in order to assess their accuracy. Included in the review were analyses of the services' cost-estimating documentation and methodology and an assessment of COBRA, the model used by the services for estimating costs (as directed by the OSD). In addition, IDA investigated pertinent aspects of the proposed realignments of the following laboratories: the Army Combat Materiel Research Laboratory, the Naval Air Development Center, the Naval Underwater Systems Center-New London, the Naval Surface Weapons Center-White Oak, the David Taylor Research Center-Annapolis, and the Aircrew Training Research Facility at Williams Air Force Base. IDA found the services' cost and savings estimates to be reasonable and in accordance with established procedures for base closures. Several shortcomings of the COBRA model methodology were identified, but their effects did not significantly alter service findings and recommendations. Proposed realignments are essentially cost neutral, having estimated payback periods of between 9 and 18 years. In this regard, IDA believes realignment decisions should be based solely on effectiveness considerations.