GAO: DEFENSE INFRASTRUCTURE - Additional Information Is Needed to Better Explain the Proposed 100,000-Acre Expansion of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site

GAO: DEFENSE INFRASTRUCTURE - Additional Information Is Needed to Better Explain the Proposed 100,000-Acre Expansion of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site
January 13, 2009

In 2007, the Army announced that the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) had approved its request to expand its Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, Colorado, by acquiring up to an additional 418,577 acres. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 required the Army to address 29 provisions related to the expansion in a report to Congress. In July 2008, the Army reported that, although it had revalidated the requirement for at least 418,577 additional acres at the maneuver site, in response to community, cost, and other concerns it now proposed to limit the acquisition of additional training land to 100,000 acres.
The act also required GAO to review the Army’s report and the justification for the proposed expansion. This report examines the extent to which the Army’s report (1) addresses the provisions of the mandate and (2) explains the selection of the 100,000-acre site. GAO compared the mandate requirements with the responses in the Army’s report, met with Army officials to discuss the expansion, and visited the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site and Fort Carson.

What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends that the Army provide Congress with additional information explaining (1) six of the responses to the mandate and (2) the rationale for selecting the 100,000 acres for the proposed expansion. DOD partially agreed with the recommendations.

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