By Kyle Ford
Editor
Thursday, January 24, 2013

Army and Fort Belvoir leadership have taken action this week to prepare for possible extreme budget cuts that could arrive in March

Actions include an immediate hiring freeze and other pre-emptive budget guidance to prepare for shortfalls.

“All of us at Fort Belvoir have a stake in working through this year’s budget challenges,” said Col. Gregory D. Gadson, Fort Belvoir Garrison commander, “We all must use prudence and good stewardship in executing our resources.”

In a Jan. 16 memo, Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh and Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Ray Odierno laid out 15 “near-term” actions to help the Army “reduce our expenditure rate and mitigate budget execution risks in order to avoid even more serious future fiscal shortfalls.”

“We expect commanders and supervisors at all levels to implement both the guidance contained in this memorandum and the detailed instructions to follow,” wrote McHugh and Odierno. “The fiscal situation and outlook are serious.”

Locally, Resource Management is waiting on guidance from Installation Management Command and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller.

“At Fort Belvoir, we will carefully plan for any funding shortfall that may bring reductions in operations and services to all the Army’s installations,” Gadson said.

“With a reduction in budget, IMCOM will look at all programs and make decisions on what makes financial sense for programs it’s responsible for at all garrisons and posts across the Army,” said Mike Bidelman, Resource Management Director, Fort Belvoir. “IMCOM will look at programs and decide to reduce funding for programs that have the least amount of impact on customers and partners.”

What happens now?

First among those actions is an immediate freeze on civilian hiring, though Army leaders have left commanders with some latitude in the policy for “humanitarian and mission-critical purposes.” Also among employment-related measures spelled out in the memo is a termination of temporary employees when “consistent with mission requirements.”

The memo also directs installation commanders to reduce base operations support for fiscal year 2013, which runs from Oct. 1, 2012 to Sept. 31, 2013, to levels that are about 70 percent of fiscal year 2012. Commanders have been asked to reduce support to community and recreational activities and to also reduce utilities consumption “to the maximum extent possible.”

Non-mission-essential training activities are also up for reduction. In particular, training not related to maintaining “readiness for Operation Enduring Freedom, the Korean forward-deployed units, Homeland Defense and the Division Ready Brigade.” Also targeted is conference attendance and professional training that is not mission essential.

Fort Belvoir’s Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation will continue to enhance Soldier and Family resilience through critical programs such as Child, Youth and School Services; Exceptional Family Member Program, Soldier and Family Assistance Center; Survivor Outreach Services; SOS and Financial Readiness programs, according to Kim Mills, Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation director

“As always we will evaluate programs and services that have the greatest impact overall to our community,” she added.

The secretary and the chief have also directed installation commanders to cease facility sustainment activity that is not “directly connected to matters of life, health or safety,” and to stop restoration and modernization projects.

Here at Fort Belvoir, sustainment projects for which contracts have been awarded will proceed as planned as will projects that correct life, healthy, and safety deficiencies, preclude damage to government property, and support critical national security missions, according to Bill Sanders, Directorate of Public Works.

However, there is a possibility that current sustainment funding could be reduced by 50 percent, according to Sanders. Should this occur, the majority of available funding will be needed for Fort Belvoir and Rivanna Station Base Operations Support contracts with the remainder used to correct life, health, and safety deficiencies. Routine service orders and individual job orders will, of necessity, be deferred.

Designs and design-build scopes of work will be prepared for non-life, health and safety sustainment, restoration and modernization, and energy conservation and security projects and, if guidance permits, submitted to the Mission and Installation Contracting Command subject-to-the availability-of-funds, he added.

Additionally, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital will continue to provide health care.

“During this time of fiscal uncertainty, we will continue operating within our spending plan while ensuring our capabilities remain constant,” said Fort Belvoir Community Hospital Commander, Col. Charles Callahan. “Our primary commitment is to continue providing world-class healthcare to our nation’s servicemembers, retirees and their Families.”

Army senior leadership has also spelled out changes for Army acquisition, logistics and technology. All production contracts and research, development, testing and evaluation contracts that exceed $500 million must be reviewed by the under secretary of defense for acquisition, logistics and technology.

The assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology must also assess the impacts of “budgetary uncertainty” on science and technology accounts.

The secretary and chief of staff state civilian furloughs could be a “last resort” possibility in fiscal year 2013. “Therefore, no action should be taken with regard to furloughs without the express approval of the secretary of the Army.”

Any measures taken as a result of the Jan. 16 memo must be reversible, the document states.

“At this point, the steps should focus on actions that are reversible if the budgetary situation improves and should minimize harm to readiness,” McHugh and Odierno write.The memo also notes that “funding related to wartime operations and Wounded Warrior programs” will not be affected.

According to Gadson, “Army leadership’s top priority in directing these actions remains the support of our Soldiers, employees and Families.”

Editor’s Note: This article included reporting from the Army News Service’s C. Todd Lopez.