The Us Military Buildup On Guam And Challenges Facing The Community PDF Download

The Department of Defense's (DOD) plans to increase the U.S. military presence on Guam are expected to increase the island's current military population by about two and a half times by 2020. DOD plans to fund DOD-owned and on-base infrastructure to support the military realignment and buildup, such as roads, buildings, and other facilities, while the government of Guam is expected to be largely responsible for funding and constructing government of Guam-owned off-base roads and utilities and providing certain public services. We have previously reported that the government of Guam faces significant challenges in addressing the impacts of the buildup and realignment. The government of Guam established the Civilian-Military Task Force in April 2006 to identify and develop cost estimates for potential nondefense projects and programs needed to support the larger military presence. The processes used by the government of Guam to develop the key cost estimates for planned off-base projects and programs varied depending on project or program value, complexity, and size; whether independent consultants provided input; and the extent to which DOD provided data to help set project requirements. As a result, the estimates prepared to date vary in quality, and the overall costs to develop supporting off-base infrastructure are still uncertain. In commenting on this report, DOD stated that it accurately characterizes the challenges that both DOD and Guam face in developing cost estimates for off-base projects and programs designed to deal with the impact of the military buildup and realignment on Guam. DOD also provided technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate into this report. DOD's comments are reprinted in their entirety in enclosure II.