Proposed changes to Defense lodging program aren’t enough, GAO says

A proposed change in the Defense Department's budget for lodging programs will not lead to better management of its lodging facilities, according to a new General Accounting Office report.

The Defense Department wants to separate budgets for permanent-change-of-station lodges from its morale, welfare and recreation program budgets. The lodges provide military families with places to stay while they are waiting to move to a new station. Currently, the military services are allowed to pool the revenue generated through fees collected from people who stay in the lodges with funds from morale, welfare and recreation budgets. The Marine Corps, however, is the only service that actually does so.

Defense based the proposed change on its belief that intermingling the funds is out of step with the Joint Federal Travel Regulation (JFTR), which sets out travel policy for military personnel. The JFTR defines permanent-change-of-station lodging as an "official" lodging program, whereas the Pentagon's current policy defines it as "unofficial." Defense believed separating the lodging program from morale, welfare and recreation programs would resolve this conflict.

According to GAO's report "Defense Management: Proposed Lodging Policy May Lead to Improvements, But More Actions Are Required" (GAO-02-351), the policy change would make the Defense Department's various travel policies consistent, but it would not do much to improve management of the department's lodging programs.

In a May 2001 report to Congress, Defense officials outlined a number of goals for improving management of lodging programs, including making them consistent across the military services, reducing lodging rates and improving the quality of the facilities.

The military services besides the Marine Corps would not be affected by the proposed change. The Army, Navy and Air Force all put their lodging revenues into a separate fund which can only be used to support lodging activities.

However, the Marine Corps takes in about $5.1 million a year from its lodges, money that is considered an important source of income for the Corps' morale, welfare and recreation programs. GAO said it would support a short-term waiver for the Marine Corps, to give it a chance to craft alternative funding methods to replace the lodging money.

To create more uniformity in the department's lodging program, GAO recommended that Defense clarify whether the proposed policy would merge program budgets for the agency's two types of lodges, permanent change-of-station lodges and temporary duty lodges. GAO also recommended that Charles Abell, the Pentagon's assistant secretary for force management policy, develop a framework for consistent lodging policy and operations across the department, for reducing room rates and for limiting new lodge construction.

The Army, which imposes a surcharge on some lodge users, should stop using surcharge funds to supplement its morale, welfare and recreation program and shift any money it has already collected to the lodging fund, GAO said.

Defense Department officials agreed with all of GAO's recommendations, but Army officials balked at the idea of shifting surcharge money already collected to its lodging budget.

"This would create an undue hardship on the morale, welfare and recreation program because the funds have already been committed," Abell said in a written response to the report.