Defense Management: Further Analysis Needed to Identify Guam's Public Infrastructure Requirements and Costs for DOD's Realignment Plan

In 2006, the United States and Japan planned to relocate 17,600 U.S. Marines and dependents from Japan to Guam. However, in 2012, representatives from the countries developed a revised plan under which 6,300 Marines and dependents would relocate to Guam. The Conference Report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 mandated that GAO evaluate what Guam public infrastructure projects are needed to support DOD s plans. This report 1 describes Guam s public infrastructure 2 describes the types of assistance DOD generally provides and other funding sources that have been used to fund Guam projects 3 assesses DOD s efforts to revalidate Guam projects under the revised realignment plan and 4 assesses the cost estimate for Guam s public water and wastewater infrastructure improvements used to support DOD budget requests. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed policies, technical studies, and budget requests. GAO also interviewed DOD and other relevant federal officials as well as visited Guam and met with Guam officials. GAO recommends that DOD take actions to revalidate public infrastructure needs on Guam based on the revised realignment size and ensure best practices are used to develop future cost estimates. DOD partially concurred with GAO s recommendations and identified future plans. However, GAO believes further opportunities exist as discussed in the report.