[Senate Hearing 117-]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


 
     MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, VETERANS AFFAIRS, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                  APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

                              ----------                              


                        WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The subcommittee met at 3:35 p.m. in room SD-124, Dirksen 
Senate Office Building, Hon. Martin Heinrich, (chairman) 
presiding.
    Present: Senators Heinrich, Tester, Boozman, Murkowski, 
Hoeven, and Collins.

                         DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

                Military Construction and Family Housing

STATEMENT OF MR. PAUL CRAMER, PERFORMING THE DUTIES OF 
            ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR 
            SUSTAINMENT

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MARTIN HEINRICH

    Senator Heinrich. Good afternoon, everyone. This Hearing of 
the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related 
Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee is now called to order.
    The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony from 
the representatives of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 
and the Military Services regarding their fiscal year 2023 
Military Construction and Family Housing Budget Request.
    This year, with the addition of a witness from the Space 
Force, our hearing will consist of two panels. Our first panel 
includes witnesses from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 
the Navy, and the Marine Corps. The second panel will consist 
of witnesses from the Army, the Air Force, and the Space Force.
    I would like to say, thank you, to our first panel of 
witnesses for being here today. From OSD, Mr. Paul Cramer, 
performing the duties of Assistant Secretary of Defense for 
Energy, Installations, and Environment.
    From the Navy, Vice Admiral Ricky Williamson, Deputy Chief 
of Naval Logistics--Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and 
Logistics.
    And Marine Corps, Lieutenant General Edward Banta, Deputy 
Commandant for Installations and Logistics.
    This year the Department has sent over a budget request of 
$12.15 billion for the Military Construction and Family Housing 
accounts, a 23 percent increase over last year's request. It is 
also the highest request level since fiscal year 2012.
    That said, the Department has relied on, and apparently 
will continue to look towards congressional increases year-
over-year, to get at the true MILCON funding needs.
    While it is clear more needs to be done, I am encouraged to 
see DOD continuing to increase its request. This year's request 
includes a significant investment in several major 
infrastructure programs. The Navy is asking for nearly $1.2 
billion for three construction projects, and 88 million in 
design funding supporting the Shipyard Infrastructure 
Optimization Program.
    In recent years, this committee has been supportive of the 
Navy's effort to overhaul our four public shipyards, and we 
will continue to keep a close eye on the program. The Marine 
Corps has identified $330 million to continue the construction 
of a new base on Guam. The Air Force request addresses several 
new missions, and includes over 200 million for projects 
supporting B-21 beddown, and 444 million in funding for the 
Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent Infrastructure. We know that 
each of these programs will require many years of dedicated 
funding.
    I am pleased that the request includes 553 million for the 
Energy Resilience and Conservation Investment Program, or 
ERCIP, the highest amount since the creation of the program. 
The request underscores this administration's commitment to 
investing in critical energy resilience projects, and a clear 
understanding of their tie to readiness.
    I will also note that the future Years Defense Program 
shows continued increases to the Energy Resilience and 
Conservation Investment Program (ERCIP) account year-over-year, 
given the clear demand for and increased complexity, and cost 
of projects, I expect the Department to hold to that plan.
    I have been vocal about the need for the United States to 
embrace and accelerate electrification, and I am encouraged by 
the Army's commitment to install a microgrid on every 
installation by 2035, while each service and indeed 
installation is unique in its energy needs, I expect that each 
of you is looking closely at how to build a more resilient, 
efficient, and clean energy, and water for that matter, 
systems. I look forward to hearing from you on that subject 
today.
    The request also includes significant investments in our 
overseas posture, for design and construction of the 
infrastructure supporting the European Deterrence Initiative; 
the request provides $430 million. The administration also 
asked for over 1.2 billion for the Pacific Deterrence 
Initiative. At the same time, the need for recapitalization of 
existing facilities continues to grow.
    This year, we received unfunded priority lists from the 
services and defense-wide agencies that totaled nearly $4 
billion. Many of the projects that were pushed out of the 
budget support enduring missions and quality of life 
investments, such as construction of new troop and family 
housing, child development centers, and critical training and 
maintenance infrastructure.
    We continue to see facilities age, often held together by 
short-term maintenance fixes, while the complexity of our 
infrastructure grows, and global market volatility drives up 
costs. The vulnerability of this aging infrastructure to 
climate, cyber, and energy threats also cannot be understated.
    As such I must note that the request once again clearly 
prioritizes new mission infrastructure over current mission and 
existing facility recapitalization. And I look forward to 
hearing about the installation investment strategies across the 
Department.
    With that, I will thank our witnesses again for being here 
today.
    And I will turn things over to Ranking Member Boozman for 
his opening statement.

                   STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN BOOZMAN

    Senator Boozman. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And I 
also would like to extend a warm welcome to our witnesses here 
today. And just thank you for you and the audience, you know, 
we look out and see all of these uniforms, just thank you for 
your service to our country in so many different ways. It is 
greatly appreciated.
    I was pleasantly surprised to see this year's budget 
request at $12.2 billion, which is an increase over last year's 
request of $9.8 billion. It is one of the highest MILCON 
requests in years, but is also an 18 percent decrease from the 
fiscal year 2022 enacted level of 14.9 billion.
    The fiscal year 2022 bill included unprecedented funding 
levels, which was necessary as the MILCON portfolio is 
routinely underfunded, and has been taking on increasing levels 
of risk for years. Unfortunately, this trend doesn't seem to be 
changing as this year's request remains only 1.5 percent of the 
total DOD budget.
    I am also concerned about multiple aspects of this year's 
budget that further compound the challenges presented to 
MILCON, and quickly dilute this year's increased request.
    Further, I would like to address increments. Not that long 
ago, $100 million was an expensive price tag, and increments 
were the exception rather than the rule. Now, we are looking at 
projects that exceed $1 billion with increments that are 
becoming a common way of doing business, nearly one-third of 
this year's request, $3.5 billion; is for 27 incremented 
projects, and we know more will be added in future requests.
    We have known for years that more complex and large-scale 
projects would start to take up a greater share of the budget, 
but without corresponding top-line increases an already 
constrained budget is squeezed even further to accommodate 
increments for these expensive projects.
    Another challenge is the impact of inflation and supply 
chain issues on the construction market, and the corresponding 
increased cost of projects. One of the challenges of MILCON is 
the delay between budget development and project execution, 
with the current environment exacerbating this issue greatly.
    I am concerned about market volatility, supply chain 
disruptions, worker shortages, the cost of fuel, unprecedented 
increases in material cost, and record inflation, and how these 
impact the projects in this budget, as well as projects 
currently in execution.
    I would like to know what the Department is doing to 
address these issues and incorporate these variables in the 
budget estimates and project execution. I know that is a big 
task. We have already been notified of projects in this request 
whose costs are outdated, which doesn't bode well for the 
health of the program.
    I look forward to working with the Department to address 
these issues, and continue the work needed to ensure a 
successful MILCON Program.
    And with that, I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Heinrich. Thank you, Senator Boozman.
    We will now proceed with witness statements, starting with 
Mr. Cramer; then Admiral Williamson, and finishing with General 
Banta.
    Mr. Cramer you are recognized for your opening statement. 
And your full, written testimony will be included in the 
record.

                  SUMMARY STATEMENT OF MR. PAUL CRAMER

    Mr. Cramer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman; Ranking Member 
Boozman, distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you 
for the opportunity to present the President's Fiscal 2023 
Budget Request for the Department's Energy, Installations, and 
Environment programs; while my full written statement has been 
submitted for the record, I will highlight a few areas.
    Our installations remain one of our primary weapon systems, 
but the stark reality is that we must ensure that our 
installations are not only postured to support the Joint Force, 
but they are resilient against the full range of natural and 
man-made threats.
    Our 2023 budget request supports our efforts to address 
mission requirements, ensure service members have a safe place 
to live and work, and also addresses resilience challenges. We 
requested $29.2 billion for military construction, and 
sustainment restoration modernization funding for our 
facilities to address critical mission requirements, and life-
health safety concerns within the current fiscal environment.
    This funding will be used to replace, restore, and 
modernize enduring facilities to enhance their resilience to 
climate events, and promotes elimination of excess and obsolete 
facilities.
    The Department is also addressing a range of technical, 
operational, and policy initiatives to enhance the use of 
energy in warfighting. Our $1.9 billion request for 
installation energy resilience, and energy conservation 
initiatives will ensure our energy supplies and methods of 
supply are resilient, sustainable, and affordable.
    The backbone of these efforts is the Energy Resilience and 
Conservation Investment Program, which provides a full range of 
projects and technologies but will increase focus on building 
cybersecurity, microgrids that incorporate energy generation, 
and power storage technologies.
    Our request for this vital program is $553 million, nearly 
double our fiscal year 2022 request, and it reflects the 
increased planning and design work required for the more 
complex projects in the program.
    A key focus of this year's budget request is addressing 
climate change. The changing climate will continue to amplify 
operational demands on the Force, degrade installation and 
infrastructure, increase health risks to our service members, 
and require modification to much of our existing and planned 
equipment. Extreme weather events are already costing billions 
of dollars, and those costs are likely to increase.
    Our resilience investments are guided by the Department of 
Defense Climate Adaptation Plan, which provides a roadmap for 
DOD activities and investments to enable operations to continue 
under changing conditions, while preserving operational 
capability, and enhancing the natural and man-made systems 
essential for the Department's success.
    We are also committed to protecting the quality of life for 
our personnel and their families. Our primary focus here is to 
ensure access to safe, high quality, affordable family and 
unaccompanied housing. Our budget includes $1.9 billion to 
support our worldwide, non-privatized family housing inventory, 
which includes more than 34,000 government-owned, 5,800 leased 
units.
    With regard to privatized housing, the Department continues 
to prioritize actions that improve the tenant experience and 
rebuild tenant trust. Our initial phase was predominantly 
focused on implementing the MHPI Tenant Bill of Rights, and the 
NDAA provisions embedded within those rights. The Department 
will now ensure the oversight measures that have been put into 
place are being put into action at each of our installations.
    We appreciate Congress, and the support you have given us 
in the fiscal year 2022 budget, and we appreciate your 
continued support as we work together to provide the best 
possible support for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and 
Guardians.
    I look forward to your questions.
    [The statement follows:]
                 Prepared Statement of Mr. Paul Cramer
                              introduction
    Chairman Heinrich, Ranking Member Boozman, and distinguished 
members of the subcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity to discuss 
the President's Fiscal Year 2023 budget request for the Department of 
Defense's (DoD) Military Construction and Family Housing programs.
    Our installations remain one of our primary weapon systems. For 
nearly 80 years, we have been able to operate from our bases around the 
world with near-impunity, which has afforded us unprecedented power 
projection capabilities. However, the stark reality is that the 
homeland is no longer a sanctuary. In line with the 2022 National 
Defense Strategy, we must ensure a resilient Joint Force and defense 
ecosystem. Our installations must not only be postured to support the 
Joint Force, but also be resilient against the full range of man-made 
and natural threats. We continue to address these resilience 
challenges, while also addressing mission requirements and ensuring 
Service members have a safe and resilient place to live and work.
                        reestablishment of ei&e
    As part of the larger reorganization within the Under Secretary of 
Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment, the Office of the Assistant 
Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations & Environment (EI&E) was 
merged with Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Logistics 
& Material Readiness (L&MR) into the Assistant Secretary of Defense for 
Sustainment in 2018. While there were benefits in bringing these two 
portfolios under a single organization, the breadth of the merged 
portfolio required the leadership team to focus on a narrower set of 
priorities at the expense of other, equally important priorities.
    Recognizing that each portfolio warranted an Assistant Secretary-
level oversight, Section 904 of the fiscal year 2021 NDAA restored EI&E 
as a distinct organization. The Department formally split EI&E and 
Sustainment on February 10, 2022. We appreciate Congress's support in 
ensuring that the Department has the senior visibility needed for us to 
effectively confront the energy, environment, military construction, 
housing, and real property challenges we face.
                    taking action on climate change
    Secretary Austin noted that the Department faces a ``growing 
climate crisis that is impacting our missions, plans, and capabilities 
and must be met by ambitious, immediate action.'' As such, climate 
change will continue to amplify operational demands on the force. It 
will degrade installations and infrastructure, increase health risks to 
our service members, and require modifications to much of our existing 
and planned equipment. The Biden Administration, through Executive 
Order (EO) 14008 ``Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad'' and 
Executive Order 14057 ``Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs 
through Federal Sustainability,'' places climate change at the center 
of the Department's national security planning and our installation and 
business operations. To do this the Department will take steps to adapt 
to the unavoidable impacts of climate change to our missions, while 
also working to mitigate the future effects of climate change by taking 
steps to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).
                       climate change adaptation
    The effects of climate change-drought, heat, forest fires, and 
extreme weather events-are already costing the Department billions of 
dollars. These costs will only increase as climate change accelerates. 
The National Defense Strategy describes how climate is transforming the 
entire context in which the Department operates and will increasingly 
stress the Joint Force. To address this, the Department is taking a 
number of actions to improve our adaptive capacity, centered around the 
DoD Climate Adaptation Plan (CAP), which was signed by the Secretary of 
Defense on September 1, 2021 and publicly released by the White House 
on October 7, 2021.
    Actions under the Plan will ensure the DoD can operate under 
changing climate conditions, preserving operational capability and 
enhancing the natural and man-made systems essential to the 
Department's success. To do so the CAP takes an expansive approach to 
the concept of adaptation, seeking to integrate climate resilience 
thinking across all agency programs and real property management 
practices. A companion document providing highlights and examples of 
the Department's climate adaptation efforts was released in November 
2021.
    Supporting this effort is the Defense Climate Assessment Tool 
(DCAT), which was developed to assist in understanding installation 
climate exposure. Outputs from this tool can be used to inform 
development of an ``all hazards'' threat assessment for installations 
and subsequently be incorporated into master plans and military 
construction projects. A summary of these exposures was presented in 
the April 2021 report, ``DoD Installation Exposure to Climate Change at 
Home and Aboard.''
                       climate change mitigation
    The entire nation faces broad exposure to the mounting risks caused 
by climate change which pose an existential threat if left unmitigated. 
Recognizing this, the Department is committed to reducing its GHG 
emissions through a variety of efforts. We are committed to ensuring 
net-zero GHG emissions across our entire civilian enterprise--our 
installations, non-tactical vehicles and procurement efforts, by or 
before 2045. While significantly more challenging, we are also working 
to reduce emissions throughout our operational forces and formations by 
deploying new technologies that concurrently add capability and reduce 
vulnerabilities in an era of contested logistics. These efforts are 
aligned with the 2021 Interim National Security Strategic Guidance as 
well as the 2022 National Defense Strategy.
    Across DoD's we are engaged in a number of specific initiatives. 
First, in concert with the General Services Administration DoD was the 
first Federal agency to initiate procurement actions aiming to obtain 
24/7 Carbon Pollution Free Electricity, with the intention to 
transition all of DoD's utility procurement to this model by 2035. 
Second, we are leveraging the prominent role that installation micro-
grids will play in our installation energy resilience efforts, which 
will allow for significant deployments of on-site renewable power. 
Third, we are updating all Unified Facilities Criteria to dramatically 
improve the energy performance of newly-constructed buildings and 
designing them to easily operate within an installation micro-grid. And 
finally, the Department has begun the planning and design efforts to 
deploy the charging infrastructure essential to transition our non-
tactical vehicle fleet to one that does not rely on fossil fuels, with 
the aim of having this transition complete by 2035.
                military construction and family housing
    The President's fiscal year 2023 budget requests $12.2 billion for 
the Military Construction (MilCon) and Family Housing appropriation. 
This represents a $2.3 billion or 23 percent increase from the fiscal 
year 2022 budget request of $9.8 billion, and addresses critical 
mission requirements as well as life, health, and safety concerns. 
These efforts directly support operations, training, maintenance, 
production, and projects to take care of our people and their families, 
such as medical treatment facilities, unaccompanied personnel housing, 
and schools.
                         military construction
    We are requesting $10.2 billion in the budget for Military 
Construction across the Department, an increase of 18 percent from last 
year's request, primarily due to infrastructure requirements for the 
Pacific Deterrence Initiative, European Deterrence Initiative, beddown 
of the B-21 aircraft, investments in KC-46A depot maintenance 
facilities, recruit dormitories, facilities and land acquisition in 
support of Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program, continued Guam 
relocation efforts, and investments in the Shipyard Infrastructure 
Optimization Program. Slightly more than half of this request provides 
readiness improvements in facilities to support operations, training, 
maintenance and production, and supply. Another $1.1 billion funds 
medical facilities, troop housing, and community support, and $210 
million funds DoD's continued support to the NATO Security Investment 
Program.

    This request also includes $2.4 billion for the Defense-Wide 
Components, including:

  --$151 million for dependent educational facilities

  --$129 million for incremental funding of fuel infrastructure;

  --$518 million for incremental funding of recapitalization of 
        National Security Agency facilities;

  --$296 million to address new capabilities/mission, force structure 
        growth, and infrastructure for Special Operations Forces;

  --$18 million for Washington Headquarters Services facilities; and

  --$329 million for the Energy Resilience and Conservation Investment 
        Program; and

  --$422 million for planning and design of future year projects.

    In addition, the Defense-Wide request contains $434 million for 
medical facility recapitalization including $153 million for the sixth 
increment (of a $695 million project) for the Walter Reed Medical 
Center Addition/Alteration at Naval Support Activity Bethesda, 
Maryland; $300 million for the tenth increment (of a $1.513 billion 
project) for the Medical Center Replacement at Rhine Ordnance Barracks, 
Germany; and $58 million for an ambulatory care center replacement at 
Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. These projects are critical for our 
continued delivery of the quality health care that our service members 
and their families deserve.
    The Department continues to make progress on its Military 
Construction Reform initiative. We codified the responsibilities of the 
major stakeholders involved in construction projects to enable the 
consistent delivery of projects across the DoD. Additionally, a 
forthcoming data management policy will ensure project sponsors and DoD 
construction agents are sharing information about critical details such 
as project requirements, acquisition timelines, and construction status 
to ensure that components make proactive decisions and manage scope and 
cost changes with minimal impact to project delivery.
         facilities sustainment, restoration, and modernization
    Facilities sustainment represents the Department's largest category 
of facilities spending. It provides for the regularly scheduled 
maintenance and repair or replacement of facility components. Ongoing 
and predictable investments are required throughout the service life of 
a facility to optimize its performance and support the safety, 
productivity, and quality of life of our personnel, while also reducing 
avoidable costs associated with premature deterioration. In addition to 
facilities sustainment funding, the Department relies upon its 
Restoration and Modernization (R&M) program funding to provide ongoing 
support to assigned missions by countering obsolescence and reversing 
degraded conditions of existing facilities.
    The Department's fiscal year 2023 budget request includes $12.6 
billion of sustainment funding for the Military Services and the major 
Defense-wide organizations. This represents an increase from the $12.3 
billion in the fiscal year 2022 budget request and a slight increase in 
the overall sustainment rate from 82 percent to 85 percent. Within the 
budget request, each Military Component and Agency, excluding the 
Marine Corps, is funded to at least 85 percent of the modeled 
requirement. We are working with the Marine Corps to pilot a 
comprehensive model that would optimize FSRM and MilCon facility 
investments across their real property portfolio.
    In addition to facilities sustainment funding, the Department 
relies upon its Restoration and Modernization (R&M) program funding to 
provide ongoing support to assigned missions by countering obsolescence 
and reversing degraded conditions of existing facilities. The fiscal 
year 2023 budget request includes $5.4 billion in Operations and 
Maintenance appropriations for facilities R&M, a 35 percent increase 
compared to our $4.0 billion fiscal year 2022 budget request.
    Historically, the Department has managed the budgeting for 
sustainment of assets at the portfolio level with a sustainment model. 
This model, however, relies on an inventory approach to requirements 
development, which does not directly align asset investment 
requirements to expenditures. OASD (EI&E) has been maturing a tool that 
helps capture facility inspection data. The system not only considers 
the asset's condition, but also individual components that make up 
those assets to provide a much more granular assessment of the entire 
facility. It is guiding our transition to an asset management approach 
for budgeting for and managing the Department's infrastructure that 
addresses facility investment as a holistic program instead of 
independent sustainment, restoration and modernization programs. As the 
system is implemented over the next few years, the Department intends 
to set baseline parameters using factors such as mission criticality to 
set a minimum condition standard on its facilities.
                    family and unaccompanied housing
    One of the Department's principal priorities is to support military 
personnel and their families and improve their quality of life by 
ensuring access to suitable, affordable housing. Service members are 
engaged in the front lines of protecting our National security and they 
deserve the best possible living and working conditions. Sustaining the 
quality of life of our people is crucial to recruitment, retention, 
readiness, and morale.
    The Department owns, operates, and maintains nearly 36,000 family 
housing units, most of which are on enduring bases in overseas 
locations, and leases approximately 5,200 family housing units where 
government-owned or privatized housing is unavailable. The Department's 
housing inventory also includes more than 500,000 government-owned 
unaccompanied personnel housing (UH) bed spaces, and over 2,000 
government-leased UH bed spaces.
    Our fiscal year 2023 budget request includes $2.0 billion to fund 
construction, operations, and maintenance of government-owned and 
leased family housing worldwide; provide housing referral services to 
assist military members in renting or buying private sector housing; 
and oversight of privatized family housing. The fiscal year 2023 
request is $533 million (37 percent) higher than the fiscal year 2022 
request, and $432 million (28 percent) higher than the fiscal year 2022 
enacted amount to sustain our increased focus on ensuring the delivery 
and maintenance of quality housing for military families. The fiscal 
year 2023 request includes $739.4 million for construction and 
improvements to meet the Department's goal to maintain at least 90 
percent of the world-wide Family Housing inventory at Good and Fair 
condition levels, to include $95.0 million for construction of 107 Army 
family housing units at Vicenza, Italy; $248.6 million for three 
projects at Joint Region Marianas--Andersen Air Force Base, Guam; and 
$230.1 million for the restructure of three Air Force Military Housing 
Privatization Initiative projects. The O&M budget request of $1.21 
billion represents a $86.2 million (8 percent) increase compared to the 
fiscal year 2022 request and enacted amount. This funding request 
supports more than 35,000 government-owned family housing units, most 
of which are on enduring bases in overseas locations, and approximately 
5,800 government-leased family housing units where government-owned or 
privatized housing is unavailable. The requested funding will ensure 
that U.S. military personnel and their families continue to have 
suitable housing choices.
    The Department's fiscal year 2023 budget request demonstrates our 
continued commitment to modernize Unaccompanied Personnel Housing (UPH) 
to improve privacy and provide greater amenities.
    The fiscal year 2023 budget request includes nearly $1.2 billion 
for 17 construction projects that will improve living conditions for 
permanent party personnel. This includes $105 million for an Army 
barracks at Fort Stewart, Georgia; $103 million for a barracks and 
dining facility at East Camp Grafenwoehr, Germany; $101 million for 
phase II of a Navy barracks project at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii; $101 
million for a Marine Corps Barracks Complex at Kadena, Japan; and $131 
million for two Air Force dormitory projects at Joint Base San Antonio, 
Texas; With these investments, the Department remains committed to 
ensuring that our government- owned and leased family housing provides 
a high quality of life for U.S. military personnel and their families, 
and will continue our efforts to modernize and ensure safe, quality 
unaccompanied personnel housing with improved privacy and greater 
amenities for junior personnel.
            military housing privatization initiative (mhpi)
    Under the overall direction the Chief Housing Officer, the 
Department has made significant progress to enhance the Military 
Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI) and our oversight of the 
private sector MHPI companies that own and operate MHPI housing 
projects.
    Central to this oversight, the Department has issued all policy 
guidance necessary to implement, prospectively, all 18 tenant rights at 
all MHPI housing projects. This includes a revised Tenant Bill of 
Rights, which was issued on August 1, 2021 and expands the version 
previously submitted to Congress in February 2020.
    As Congress has recognized, retroactive application of the Tenant 
rights requirements at existing projects requires voluntary agreement 
by the respective MHPI companies; the Department cannot unilaterally 
change the terms of the complex, public-private partnerships that 
established the MHPI housing projects. As a result of our collaboration 
with the private-sector MHPI companies that own and operate the MHPI 
housing projects, all 18 rights are fully available at all but five of 
the nearly 200 installations with privatized housing. The Department 
continues to pursue select agreements not yet reached at the five 
remaining installations.
    Our other key completed initiatives include strengthening oversight 
through improved training; reinforcing installation commander 
responsibilities; hiring more than 600 housing-related staff including 
resident advocates and increasing training; improving communication 
with residents and the annual tenant satisfaction survey; ensuring 
increased transparency and reporting of maintenance and repair work 
orders; revising project performance incentive fee metrics; 
establishing housing standards and inspection requirements; 
establishing policies and procedures for health hazard assessments and 
mitigation; and expanding MHPI project and program oversight at all 
levels.
    Our next phase of MHPI reform actions will continue to prioritize 
key reforms that will improve the safety, quality, and habitability of 
privatized housing; enforce performance standards established for the 
MHPI companies; and monitor individual MHPI project performance to 
ensure the long-term financial viability of the MHPI projects and 
program. These efforts include examining ways to improve processes to 
enhance the housing experience for military families who have 
accessible housing needs and improving coordination with the 
Exceptional Family Member Program.
    The Department of Defense understands that family is important and 
honors the sacrifice that military members and their families make to 
serve our Nation. We recognize that the environment where Service 
members and their families live impacts their quality of life, their 
ability to do their jobs, and the Department's ability to recruit and 
retain the force.
    We are committed to working closely with you and the committee 
staff to ensure the long-term success of the MHPI program, and will 
remain diligent in our oversight to ensure MHPI projects deliver 
quality housing and a positive living experience for Service members 
and their families.
           department of defense installation energy programs
    The Department spent $3.3 billion in fiscal year 2021 on 
electricity to power facilities at over 500 installations worldwide. 
This amount of energy consumption represents how great our dependency 
is on energy, underscoring the importance of our need to ensure our 
energy supplies and methods of supply are resilient, sustainable, and 
affordable.
                           threats to energy
    Energy is an essential enabler of military capability, and the 
Department depends on energy- resilient forces, weapon systems, and 
facilities to achieve its mission. At home and abroad, installations 
are reliant on commercial, municipal, and host nation power grids for 
day-to-day operations, including command and control systems, 
communications, lighting, heating, and cooling.
    Adversaries recognize the strengths of U.S. power projection and 
sustainment, and possess long- range weapons, significant anti-access/
area-denial (A2/AD) systems, and substantial cyber capabilities able to 
degrade the Department's ability to provide energy to forces and 
facilities. In response to these threats and in alignment with statute, 
the Department is working to ``ensure readiness of the armed forces for 
their military missions by pursuing energy security and energy 
resilience'' (10 U.S.C. Sec. 2911) and ``ensure the types, 
availability, and use of operational energy promote the readiness of 
the armed forces'' (10 U.S.C. Sec. 2926).
    In addition, the Department's ability to provide energy to critical 
missions is affected by the climate. For instance, floods, storms, and 
other severe weather can degrade energy generation and distribution 
infrastructure on our installations, as well in the surrounding 
communities. In fact, severe weather can degrade supply chains beyond 
energy, with ``last-mile'' delivery systems for a range of mission 
critical commodities, goods, and services being particularly at risk.
    Therefore, climate resilience must be built into the supply chain 
as well, and the Department must ensure that key suppliers and 
industries can still operate though impacted by climate change, with 
special attention given to ``last-mile'' resilience.
                     installation energy resilience
    The President and the Secretary of Defense have directed the 
Department to ensure installations and forces are resilient to all 
hazard risks--kinetic, cyber, and climate--and that the use of energy 
promotes the readiness of the armed forces for their military missions. 
In response, the Department is making significant energy investments in 
installation energy resiliency to increase the resilience of bases and 
facilities critical to generating, deploying, operating, and sustaining 
military capabilities. This includes a $1.9 billion request for 
installation energy resilience and energy conservation initiatives, 
most of which are directed to existing buildings.
     energy resilience and conservation investment program (ercip)
    The fiscal year 2023 budget request includes $553.25 million for 
the Energy Resilience and Conservation Investment Program (ERCIP), 
which is one the Department's key mechanisms for building both energy 
resilience and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The ERCIP program has 
executed over 511 high-priority projects from FY 2009-2021 including 
the implementation of micro-grids, renewable energy generation (i.e., 
solar PV, solar thermal, wind, etc.), building efficiency enhancements, 
and utility distribution improvements. ERCIP supports a full range of 
projects and technologies, but will be increasingly focused on building 
cyber-secure micro-grids that incorporate energy generation and power 
storage technologies. The fiscal year 2023 ERCIP budget request 
includes an increase in Planning and Design (P&D) to accommodate the 
design required for the more complex projects in the program. 
Additionally, the increase in P&D for fiscal year 2023 will build a 
pipeline of projects with more improved and timely project execution.
    As ERCIP transitions to a standardized MilCon program and projects 
become larger and more complex, we are improving project planning & 
design, and enhancing execution oversight of these projects. We 
continue to make ERCIP the backbone of our energy resilience 
investments and prioritize energy project investments where they can 
best support the defense posture--based on the critical missions they 
support and the quality of Installation Energy Plans (IEPs). We 
recently updated ERCIP Guidance to the Services to reflect the 
statutory changes to the program stemming from the fiscal year 2022 
NDAA. At the same time, we are working to prioritize projects that 
support energy resilience for critical mission requirements (10 U.S.C. 
Sec. 2920). As Department focuses on reducing the carbon footprint at 
our military installations, ERCIP will continue to support a range of 
technologies and efforts, including renewable energy and energy 
storage, geothermal, accelerated deployment of air source heat pumps, 
and infrastructure projects directly supporting electrical vehicle (EV) 
charging stations.
    The Department also has a number of energy conservation 
initiatives, most of which are directed to existing buildings. These 
include sustainment and recapitalization projects, which generally 
involve retrofits to install improved lighting, high-efficiency HVAC 
systems, double-pane windows, facility related control systems (FRCS), 
and new roofs. The Department is also giving increased attention to 
Micro Reactors and Next Generation Geo-Thermal as zero-carbon 
technologies capable of providing consistent baseload power.
          installation energy resilience policy and governance
    To continue infusing the installation energy programs across the 
Department with an urgent sense of traceability, accountability and 
purpose, we are continuing to develop and promote a data- and metrics-
driven approach to our energy planning and programming. This approach 
is reflected in our recent and continuing efforts to develop or update 
installation energy policy across the Department.
    Last year, we updated our policies for energy resilience planning 
and metrics at installations to reflect the 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2920 energy 
resilience requirements added by the fiscal year 2021 NDAA. These 
updated policies set forth energy availability standards for critical 
missions; directs the Military Departments to promote the use of 
multiple and diverse sources of energy in their planning, with 
prioritization of energy resources originating on the installation; 
encourages the use of micro grids; and favors the use of full-time, 
installed energy sources rather than emergency generation in their 
energy resilience solutions.
    We are also working to harmonize the definitions and planning and 
assessment processes for critical missions across the Department, and 
improve our Installation Energy Plans (IEPs) to ensure alignment with 
the Installation Resilience Plans (IRPs) required by 10 U.S.C. 
Sec. 2864. More than 158 IEPs were complete by the end of last year, 
and with an additional 200 expected to be completed this year. 
Currently, these plans establish the basis for planning energy 
performance projects, and provide a roadmap for integrating 
appropriated and public-private partnership authorities to close energy 
resilience gaps. Going forward, the IEPs will also document critical 
load requirements, lessons learned from black start exercises, and the 
ability of installations to withstand a 14-day energy disruption. We 
plan to eventually integrate the IEPs into the IRPs to reflect an ``all 
hazards'' approach that addresses a range of climate hazards and energy 
resilience gaps at priority installations and critical missions.
                         black start exercises
    Black start exercises are an important component of the 
Department's approach to risk assessment and for identifying gaps in 
our installations' electrical infrastructure, such as previously-
unknown interdependencies between various systems, so that we can best 
prioritize our resilience resources and planning. In the coming year, 
the Department will issue uniform black start exercise guidance and 
monitor a schedule of planned exercises through fiscal year 2027, for 
no less than five exercises per Service per year, in accordance with 
new Title 10 requirements stemming from the fiscal year 2021 National 
Defense Authorization Act.
    Over the past year, we continued to transition execution of black 
start exercise to the Services. Across the Department in 2021, the 
Services conducted exercises at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, 
Eielson Air Force Base, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, and Ohio Air 
National Guard bases Springfield-Beckley and Blue Ash. This brings the 
total number of black start exercises performed to date across the 
Department to 10. The Services have also begun planning for larger, 
regional black start exercises that cover several bases at once to more 
effectively test outage effects on Operation Plans, and the 
effectiveness of Continuity of Operations (COOP) plans.
                  performance contracting authorities
    The Department continues to utilize performance contracting (i.e., 
ESPCs/UESCs) as a significant part of its efforts to enhance energy 
resilience through energy efficiency. Energy efficiency bolsters 
installation energy resilience by helping reduce the energy demand from 
distributed energy production resources during commercial grid 
disruptions. Energy efficiency is also a practical approach for the DoD 
to reduce its carbon footprint in response to the imperatives of EO 
14008 and EO 14057, the Energy Act of 2020, the Federal Sustainability 
Framework, and DoD's Climate Action Plan. DoD will continue to use 
these contracts where they enhance DoD mission readiness, mission 
assurance, and ultimately DoD's warfighting capability, guided by the 
outcomes of the Installation Energy Planning process.
 environmental cleanup at base realignment and closure (brac) locations
    To date, the Department, in cooperation with State agencies and the 
Environmental Protection Agency, has completed cleanup activities at 94 
percent of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) sites and has conveyed 
many of these sites to other entities for further development. To 
continue this progress, we are requesting $260 million for BRAC 
Environmental, a $4 million decrease from the fiscal year 2022 request. 
DoD is still executing the generous additions provided by Congress in 
recent years.
    While the Department continues to make progress completing cleanup, 
the remaining sites are complex and require more time or a remedy based 
on more advanced technology, or they are sites impacted by chemicals of 
emerging concern. Our focus remains on continuous improvement in the 
environmental restoration program by developing technologies to reduce 
costs and accelerate cleanup and establishing policies and guidance 
that maximize cleanup program efficiency and effectiveness. DoD also 
partners with regulatory and community stakeholders throughout the 
cleanup process to maximize transparency, public participation, and 
collaboration. Partnering is vital to ensuring DoD makes cost effective 
and efficient decisions.
    These initiatives help ensure that DoD makes the best use of 
available resources to steadily move sites through the cleanup process 
while protecting human health, safety, and the environment.
                               conclusion
    Thank you for the opportunity to discuss DoD's programs supporting 
energy, installations, and environment. We appreciate Congress' 
continued support for our enterprise and look forward to working with 
you.

STATEMENT OF VICE ADMIRAL RICKY WILLIAMSON, DEPUTY 
            CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS FOR FLEET 
            READINESS AND LOGISTICS, UNITED STATES NAVY
    Admiral Williamson. Chairman Heinrich, Ranking Member 
Boozman, and distinguished members of the committee, in 
conjunction with the other members of the panel, I appreciate 
the opportunity to provide an update on the quality and 
resilience of our Navy installations.
    On behalf of our sailors and their families, thank you for 
your continued support of the Navy, its Military Construction 
Program, and our 71 installations around the world, which 
enable us to strengthen readiness, and to support delivery of 
new and more lethal platforms.
    Additionally, thank you for your ongoing focus on the 
Navy's Quality of Life programs which are critical to the 
overall success of our Navy.
    In December of last year the Chief of Naval Operations 
issued a call to action for every Navy leader to apply a set of 
Navy-proven leadership, and problem-solving best practices that 
empower our people to achieve exceptional performance. We have 
embraced this call because this is how we have always conducted 
our business, constantly self-assessing as part of an effort to 
get real and self-correcting our discrepancies to get better.
    To meet the challenges of strategic competition and 
evolving theater environment, we must enable global logistics, 
resilient shore infrastructure, and be honest about our current 
performance. Maintaining our advantage at sea requires 
transformational change ashore to support and sustain the fleet 
of the future.
    We recently released the Navy Global Strategy Ashore, which 
is the Navy's strategic direction for the Navy Shore Enterprise 
aligned with the National Defense Strategy. Our Navy requires 
shore platforms to be capable of supporting full-spectrum, 
multi-domain conflicts with near-peer competitors, while also 
protecting against, responding to, and recovering from attacks 
or disruptions intended to degrade operations.
    This strategy provides a roadmap for identifying and 
resourcing all shore operations, activities, and investments, 
enabling fleet warfighting capabilities that are aligned to the 
CNO's navigation plan.
    Navy installations located in the United States and around 
the world are essential shore platforms from which naval forces 
train, deploy, and maintain forward presence to enable 
geographic combatant commanders to meet operational 
requirements.
    A modernized and ready organic industrial base is a vital 
component of readiness. The Navy is leading the efforts to take 
an enterprise-wide approach to optimize infrastructure at the 
shipyards, depots, and logistics complexes that repair and 
modernize our ships, submarines, and aircraft.
    The Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program, SIOP, is 
a critical program to prepare the Nation's four public 
shipyards to meet the further needs of the Navy's nuclear-
powered submarine and aircraft carrier force. Funding applied 
to our installations also supports climate resilience which is 
an important component of installation readiness.
    The Navy works to ensure installations and infrastructure 
are resilient to a range of challenges, including extreme 
weather.
    It is a privilege to testify before the committee today. 
And I look forward to answering your questions.
    [The statement follows:]
              Prepared Statement of VADM Ricky Williamson
    Chairman Heinrich, Ranking Member Boozman, and distinguished 
members of the Committee, it is an honor to appear before you 
representing the thousands of Navy Sailors and civilians at our 70 
installations worldwide. Thank you for the opportunity to testify about 
the importance of our infrastructure, its resiliency, and the entire 
base operating support required to meet critical Navy and, ultimately, 
Joint Force missions. The Navy's contribution to the Joint Force 
includes readiness for high-end lethal combat in the maritime 
environment in order to deter great power aggression and, if deterrence 
fails, to defeat a peer or near-peer adversary in conflict. Our goal is 
to shape a Navy that is lethal, resilient, sustainable, agile, and 
responsive. Balancing the requirement to field the future Fleet while 
maintaining the sustainable forward posture that keeps Americans safe 
and prosperous is our central challenge. As we acknowledge and address 
that challenge, we focus on four priorities: readiness, capabilities, 
capacity, and our Sailors. To that end, the Navy works to ensure tight 
linkages between our strategies, operational concepts, warfighting 
capabilities, and our resources to achieve strategic objectives. For 
the Naval Services, these imperatives are outlined in the Joint 
Publication 5.0; Tri-Service Maritime Strategy, Advantage at Sea; 
Transforming Naval Logistics for Great Power Competition (TNLFGPC); the 
Navy Global Strategy Ashore: Transforming the Shore Enterprise for 
Strategic Competition; and the Chief of Naval Operations' (CNO) 
Navigation Plan (NAVPLAN). These Service-level strategies align with 
the President's Interim National Security Strategic (NSS) Guidance and 
the recently released National Defense Strategy (NDS).
    Consistent with the NSS Guidance, the 2022 NDS sets out how the 
Department of Defense (DoD) will contribute to advancing and 
safeguarding vital U.S. national interests--protecting the American 
people, expanding America's prosperity, and realizing and defending our 
democratic values. The NDS expertly outlines today's growing multi-
domain threat. Our strategic environment is characterized by the re- 
emergence of long-term strategic competition with the People's Republic 
of China and Russia, along with persistent threats from North Korea, 
Iran, and violent extremist organizations. Individually and 
collectively, these forces are producing significant, overt challenges 
to the free and open international order. In response, the NDS outlines 
the need for a more lethal, resilient, and rapidly innovating Joint 
Force, combined with a robust constellation of Allies and Partners, to 
sustain American influence and ensure a favorable balance of power that 
safeguards the free and open international order.
    Collectively, our force posture, alliances and partnerships, and 
force modernization will provide the capabilities and agility to 
prevail in conflict and preserve peace through strength.
    In support of this end state, the CNO issued the TNLFGPC in early 
2021, which provides a strategic roadmap for the Naval Logistics 
Enterprise and aligns its transformation with the NDS and Advantage at 
Sea. The TNLFGPC provides details on how the Navy will transform 
logistical support to the Fleet across the logistics continuum. The 
logistics continuum encompasses: 1) the industrial base, 2) the inter- 
theater, 3) the intra-theater, and 4) the last tactical mile. The 
overall goal of this transformation is to establish naval logistics 
systems and structures aligned with the new strategic environment. The 
TNLFGPC identifies four lines of efforts (LOEs): 1) Integrate Command 
and Control, 2) Enable Assured Power Projection, 3) Strengthen 
Sustainment for Distributed Operations, and 4) Improve Logistic 
Resilience. The LOEs are our principle focus areas in improving our 
ability to sustain the force in the new environment. We do this through 
five Maritime Sustainment Vectors, distilled from the eight pillars of 
Logistics from Joint Publication 4.0: Rearm, Refuel, Repair, Resupply, 
and Revive (called the ``5Rs''). The 5Rs constitute both a structure 
and a system to help us transform logistics to better sustain the 
Fleet--for identifying gaps and performing the analytics on potential 
solutions. The Maritime Sustainment Vector, or 5R model, focuses Navy 
Logistics Enterprise activities on sustainment as a warfighting 
function.
    The model captures the essential functions required to posture 
capability ashore and at sea in ways that allow the Fleets and Force to 
operate globally, at a pace that can be sustained over time.
    It is important to note that all readiness starts from the Shore, 
which makes Shore readiness and investment critical. It is imperative 
to ensure the Shore is mission- ready, secure, sustainable, and 
maintaining pace alongside our Fleet. Operating in a contested 
environment requires a Shore enterprise that is integrated completely 
into the fight. This requires persistent, agile, and flexible naval 
combatants, and a logistics enterprise that mirrors these 
characteristics.
    Fleet readiness and lethality rely on a combination of afloat and 
ashore ``platforms'' and ``payload''. The Navy Global Strategy Ashore, 
released in summer 2021, illustrates how the Shore enterprise enables 
Fleet readiness. Shore platforms are the locations that develop, 
generate, and employ forces for direct support to the Fleet.
    Shore payload is the infrastructure and support services at an 
installation. The Shore payload also includes the people and services 
that make the payload and platforms function. The Shore platforms and 
payload make up strategic and operational mission sets, such Air/Port 
Operations, Protection, Logistics, Warfighter Resilience/Quality of 
Life, and Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, 
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR). These mission 
sets are inextricably linked to Force Development (Fd), Force 
Generation (Fg), and Force Employment (Fe).
    In the Navy Global Strategy Ashore, the Navy created four LOEs to 
posture the Shore in enhancing Fleet readiness by aligning the Shore 
and sea lines of communication across the competition continuum. These 
LOEs are: 1) Restore Readiness to Shore Platforms, 2) Cost-Effective 
Maintenance and Modernization of Infrastructure, 3) Enhance Shore 
Resiliency, and 4) Posture the Shore to be Agile and Responsive to the 
Threat Environment. Implementation of these LOEs will establish a 
sustainable, modern, resilient, and ready network of installations and 
contingency locations that deliver capability and capacity to produce 
and sustain Fleet readiness and logistics in a contested environment.
    Another key component to Shore readiness is resiliency. Energy and 
climate resiliency are critical pieces to the Naval Global Strategy 
Ashore, as they are integral to the long-term ability of our Navy to 
support ongoing operations, and ensure our Sailors are equipped to meet 
adversity. Resiliency ensures our military bases can continue to 
perform their critical missions in the wake of natural disasters or 
disruptions to the grid. It is a national security and warfighting 
imperative for the Navy to address the impact of climate change on our 
readiness, operations, and ability to fight and win. Climate change 
increases risk and exposes vulnerabilities to our people, 
installations, platforms, and operations, and ultimately affects our 
mission. Climate resilience focuses on consideration of environmental 
vulnerabilities in installation master planning, management of natural 
resources, design and construction standards, utility systems/service, 
and emergency management operations. By tackling climate challenges 
holistically across the range of resilience threats, by how we operate 
and the decisions we make in the planning, design, location, and 
construction of facilities, we are ultimately addressing readiness 
since climate and environment are the foundations from which everything 
else develops.
    The Secretary of the Navy set operational energy priorities for the 
Department of the Navy in 2019, which included increasing energy 
resilience of forward bases, supply depots, and cooperative security 
locations as part of an effort to get more energy to the warfighter. 
Several operational energy initiatives implemented so far have resulted 
in cost savings reinvested for additional operational energy 
resilience, efficiencies, mission assurance, energy conservation, or 
energy security initiatives within the Navy. Moving forward, the Navy 
will continue to prioritize all facets of resilience in installation 
decisions to ensure the ongoing, highest level of mission capabilities.
    The Navy must deliver affordable, sustainable, environmentally 
compliant, and resilient Shore platforms through improved processes and 
investment prioritization.
    Targeted sustainment of existing assets and modernization of our 
infrastructure will ensure readiness at the lowest overall lifecycle 
cost. Investments to increase resilience of Navy installations to 
extreme weather events and sea-level rise will result in long- term 
cost avoidance. Continued use of standard design criteria, increased 
use of expeditionary standards, and mandated use of standard designs 
for new construction will reduce delivery costs and increase buying 
capacity. Finally, to optimize the Shore footprint and maximize 
resources, the Navy must consolidate and divest infrastructure that 
does not contribute directly to Fleet readiness and lethality.
    American security rests upon our ability to control the seas and 
project power ashore. Currently, the Navy's Logistics Enterprise is 
mission capable for day-to-day operations, but is not postured for a 
sustained increase in Fleet operational tempo, particularly given the 
tyranny of distance across the INDOPACOM AOR. The Logistics enterprise 
must be prepared to enable and sustain readiness across the competition 
continuum--from Phase 0 peacetime mindset to Phase II crisis and 
conflict. In particular, the Navy Logistics Enterprise must be postured 
to fight and win in a high-end fight where Shore platforms will be the 
linchpin for delivery of the 5Rs of logistics in support of Distributed 
Maritime Operations and Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations. 
Collectively, the Navy Logistics Enterprise must prioritize operations, 
activities, and investments deemed critical by the Fleet to support 
warfare readiness and influence events ashore.
                military construction (milcon) execution
    Military Construction is one of several mechanisms that the Navy 
uses to modernize Navy installations to enable global logistics and 
warfighter development, generation, and employment from the Shore. Our 
PB23 request continues to invest in projects supporting new platforms 
and the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP). The Navy 
MILCON requirements far exceed the funds available to resource 
requirements.The CNO Guidance, Fleet and combatant command (COCOM) 
priorities, the Navy Global Strategy Ashore, and Fleet readiness needs 
inform the PB23 submission, which reflects the Navy's top priorities.
    The 2022 MILCON Appropriations and Authorizations included a total 
of $2.22 billion for 19 projects, funding for planning and design of 
future MILCON projects, and Unspecified Minor Construction Projects. 
Twelve of 13 of the Navy's original requested projects were included 
(incremental funding provided for one project and one project marked); 
among these were five overseas projects totaling $304 million 
supporting COCOM posture priorities and persistent presence of forward 
deployed naval forces.
    The FY22 budget provided for the second increment of P381, Multi-
Mission dry-dock 1 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, ME, in support of 
SIOP, as well as additional funds for planning & design for future year 
SIOP projects. The Navy sincerely appreciates the $768 million in 
additional funds provided by Congress. This provided an additional $225 
million to optimize the execution of P381 and funded seven additional 
projects.
              shipyard infrastructure optimization program
    The SIOP is a holistic investment plan that integrates all 
infrastructure and industrial plant equipment investments at the Navy's 
four public shipyards to meet nuclear fleet maintenance requirements 
and improve Navy maintenance capabilities by expanding shipyard 
capacity and optimizing shipyard configuration. This plan is essential 
to supporting the future needs of the Navy's nuclear submarine and 
aircraft carrier force. The average age of the naval shipyard 
facilities and related infrastructure is 61 years, while the average 
dry-dock age is approaching 100 years. Dry-dock re- capitalizations 
must be completed to accommodate future platforms such as the Ford 
Class aircraft carriers and new configurations of the Virginia Class 
submarines. In April 2022, the Department of the Navy provided an 
updated SIOP Five-Year Plan to Congress and updated reporting 
relationships required to ensure disciplined execution of construction 
efforts managed within the program while maintaining uninterrupted 
support to the Fleet. The Navy established a Program Executive Office 
Industrial Infrastructure (PEO II) in March 2022, aligned with Naval 
Facilities Engineering Systems Command, and reporting directly to the 
Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and 
Acquisition. The Department also realigned Program Management Office 
555 to report directly to PEO II. The Navy awarded a $1.7 billion 
contract to construct two new dry docks at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard 
(PNSY) and completed the first phase of industrial modeling and 
simulation at all four naval shipyards. Finally, the Navy released the 
Draft Environmental Impact Statement for construction and operation of 
Dry Dock 3 Replacement and a Waterfront Production Facility project at 
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility 
(PHNSY & IMF) for public comment this February.
               infrastructure sustainment and restoration
    When viewed as platforms, Navy installations enable Air/Port 
Operations, Protection, Logistics, Warfighter Resilience/Quality of 
Life, and C5ISR. Investment in Facility Sustainment, Restoration, and 
Modernization (FSRM) is critical to supporting CNO's NAVPLAN and Fleet 
outcomes. The recent trend of increased FSRM investment directly 
benefits maintenance of critical infrastructure that enables the Fleet 
and warfighting missions. The Navy's PB23 request funds Sustainment to 
85 percent of the DoD-modeled requirement. Restoration and 
Modernization program funding increase is necessary to keep pace with 
the unprecedented increases in material costs, supply- chain 
disruptions, and labor services in the construction industry.
    Navy Base Operating Support (BOS) comprises fleet operations, 
safety and security, facility support, quality of life, and mission 
support and management programs provided to 70 Navy installations. BOS 
funding has been essentially flat over the past decade and remains so 
for the upcoming Future Year Defense Program. Accounting for inflation, 
this translates to reduced buying power, creating challenges as new 
priorities arise each year, requiring resourcing at the expense of 
other programs and services. To address that challenge, the Navy has 
embarked on an effort to baseline BOS costs and prioritize BOS 
investments based on mission output.
                           climate resiliency
    Climate resilience is an important component of installation 
mission readiness.
    The Navy works to ensure installations and infrastructure are 
resilient to a wide range of challenges, including extreme weather 
events, water scarcity, sea level rise, recurrent flooding, wildfires, 
and other environmental considerations and threats that can affect 
operations. The Navy's Mission Assurance Assessment Process is an ``all 
hazard threat assessment'' that is used to ensure the continued 
function and resilience of capabilities and assets by reviewing both 
the probability and the mission impact of climate risks tailored to 
specific geographic locations. Our Climate Change Planning Handbook: 
Installation Adaptation and Resilience, updated in 2021, provides an 
analytical framework and methodology for identifying and assessing 
viable adaptation measures to inform the installation resilience master 
planning process. By incorporating climate change considerations into 
the decision-making process, the Navy gains operational and tactical 
advantages, remains agile, preserves decision space, and reduces 
climate hazard risks to missions and operations.
    Climate change is already affecting the Navy in significant ways, 
and the threat will only intensify in coming years. The Navy is making 
meaningful progress with PB23 investments as the magnitude and urgency 
of the climate crisis increases. We are investing in efforts to 
optimize energy and utilities usage, planning and execution of 
Environmental Resilience projects, planning, and installation of 
Electric Vehicle Support Equipment, and converting our non-tactical 
fleet from gas to Zero Emission Vehicles.
                    child development centers (cdc)
    Navy Child and Youth Programs (CYP) provide affordable, quality 
child and youth program services. The Navy has the capacity to provide 
care for 45.9K children ages 0-12. The current waitlist is 6.7K. 
Quality of programs is high overall but challenged with capacity 
shortfalls for ages 0-5. This is most prevalent in the fleet 
concentration areas of Norfolk, VA; San Diego, CA; Bremerton, WA; Pearl 
Harbor, HI; and the National Capital Region. Efforts are in place to 
reduce wait times for childcare, to include enhanced efforts to recruit 
and retain childcare professionals, expand community-based fee 
assistance and the Navy Family Child Care program, and leveraging 
community partnerships. Due to limited commercial capacity to support 
fee assistance and a lack of viable public/private partners, military 
construction of new or expanded CDC facilities may still be necessary 
to achieve capacity goals. Additionally, because COVID has had a 
significant impact on both commercial and military CDC staffing levels, 
the Navy is increasing pay and recruitment and retention bonuses to 
ensure adequate staffing levels.
    The Navy increased our fee assistance cap to $1,500 per month, 
making higher cost commercial programs more accessible to military 
members and expanding fee assistance enrollment. We also implemented 
required Federal employee minimum wage ($15/hour) across the 
enterprise. The new starting caregiver salary of $16.70/hour + locality 
pay will make Navy CYP positions more competitive with the private 
sector and positively impact recruitment and retention. Finally, the 
Navy released a Request for Proposal in the San Diego Metro location 
for leasing partnerships, but received limited interest from the 
community, so the Navy's PB23 request includes funding for construction 
of a new CDC at Naval Base Point Loma. The Navy continues to adapt to 
these challenges, implement lessons learned, and leverage a variety of 
approaches to CYP to ensure that we can provide safe, quality, and 
affordable childcare for our Sailors.
                               conclusion
    Fundamental changes are necessary to meet the challenges facing the 
Shore. The effective development, generation, employment, and 
sustainment of naval forces by Shore platforms and payloads require 
that we confront the status quo and drive institutional change. We must 
address and improve how the Shore enterprise functions as a force 
multiplier, enabling the Navy to succeed in strategic competition as it 
supports the Fleet within the unified readiness picture assessed by and 
reported through Fleet Commanders.
    As threats change, concepts of operation evolve, planes and ships 
retire and are replaced by new platforms, support from the Shore will 
require deliberate focus, prioritized investment, and more effective 
portfolio risk assessment to ensure the capabilities and capacities are 
postured for a scalable response across the competition continuum. With 
the ultimate focus on Mission, we will be able to optimize support from 
the Shore with a focused prioritization and long-term investment 
strategy. Doing so requires a unified understanding of agile response 
across global functions for employment, generation, and development. 
The Navy Global Strategy Ashore will eventually combine with TNLFGPC to 
create an overarching strategy for logistics and installations.
    Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. We look 
forward to working with you to continue to enhance and enable 
warfighting capability and readiness through optimization, 
modernization and increased resiliency of our installation platforms to 
support Navy critical missions across the spectrum of competition.

STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL EDWARD BANTA, DEPUTY 
            COMMANDANT, INSTALLATIONS & LOGISTICS, 
            UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
    General Banta. Chairman Heinrich, Ranking Member Boozman, 
and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the 
opportunity to discuss the Marine Corps' fiscal year 2023 
Military Construction Budget Request today.
    First, I would like to thank you for the funding of last 
year's budget request, and our unfunded priorities list. That 
funding which totaled over 2 billion accelerates the 
Commandant's Force Design Initiative, supports Quality of Life 
projects, and invests in the Marine Corps' ability to fulfill 
its Title 10 obligations now, and in the future.
    Our installations play a key role in meeting the challenges 
facing our Nation. The Marine Corps' overseas installations are 
especially critical as advanced naval bases in support of naval 
and joint operations. We need modernized infrastructure that is 
resilient against threats, ranging from kinetic attack, to 
cybersecurity breaches, to damage from extreme weather.
    To meet these challenges the Marine Corps has requested 
over $1.2 billion for military construction projects in fiscal 
year 2023. This year's request has a broad focus, and includes 
projects that invest in several key areas, including life 
health and safety issues, quality of life projects, and 
infrastructure support for new platforms.
    Over half of this request is focused on the Pacific, 
including four projects in Guam that will help posture the 
22,000 marines located west of the international dateline, in a 
fighting stance.
    The quality of life of our marine, sailors, and their 
families is integral to the readiness and effectiveness of our 
force. A new child development center at Marine Corps Air 
Station, Miramar, will be completed this summer, and three more 
projects are planned in the FYDP.
    The Marine Corps is in the process of renovating 12 
barracks in fiscal year 2022, and we plan to renovate 15 more 
in fiscal year 2023, which will improve the lives of 
approximately 4,000 marines.
    Last year, the Marine Corps' focus on family housing 
included implementation of the remaining provision of the 
Tenant's Bill of Rights. The Marine Corps continues to work 
with its housing partners, and the other services, to ensure 
that our housing is safe and meets the needs of our residents. 
This year we plan to invest over $230 million in family housing 
construction and operations, including building family housing 
units in Guam.
    The Marine Corps strives to invest in resilient 
installations that enable operational readiness. Recent 
infrastructure investments include projects that reduce our 
reliance on fossil fuels, and off-base energy grids. For 
example, Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany is the first Marine 
Corps Net Zero Installation. The base generated more power 
through green energy sources than it consumed in calendar year 
2021, and provided about 8 megawatts back to the local grid.
    The Marine Corps has also invested in microgrids at five 
installations that can power mission-essential functions for 
more than two weeks, ensuring continuity of operations.
    Finally, the Marine Corps is investing in the modernization 
of its Organic Industrial Base. These projects optimize 
existing facilities, construct new facilities, and improve 
workflow processes and productivity at the Marine Corps' two 
depots.
    The Marine Corps is currently undergoing a significant 
transition in how it is organized, trained, and equipped to 
meet current and evolving threats from peer adversaries. Our 
operational capabilities are adapting to meet threat changes, 
and we need to invest in next-generation infrastructure to 
match our evolving capabilities.
    Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today, 
and for your oversight, input, and support as we determine the 
infrastructure requirements that will best position the Marine 
Corps for mission accomplishment.
    I look forward to working with you to sustain our 
warfighting capability and the readiness of our power 
projection platforms. I look forward to your questions.
    Thank you.
    [The statement follows:]
             Prepared Statement of Lt. Gen. Edward D. Banta
                              introduction
    Chairman Heinrich, Ranking Member Boozman, and distinguished 
Members of the Committee, I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the 
Marine Corps' FY23 military construction budget request. Thanks to the 
strong support we have received from Congress, the Marine Corps 
continues to improve the quality and resiliency of our installations 
which are critical to our ability to train forces and maintain 
readiness.
    First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the funding 
provided for the Marine Corps' Fiscal Year 22 military construction 
program. The over $2B of total funding for these projects accelerates 
support for the Commandant's Force Design through projects like 
modernization of the electrical distribution grid at Marine Corps Base 
(MCB) Hawaii and aircraft maintenance facilities at Marine Corps Air 
Station (MCAS) Beaufort and MCAS Miramar. The additional funding 
provided supports the quality life for our Marines by investing in 
unaccompanied housing projects at MCAS Yuma and MCB Hawaii. I am very 
grateful for Congress' interest in supporting these critical 
infrastructure projects that will enhance the Marine Corps' ability to 
fulfill its Title X obligations and meet the challenges presented by 
current and future threats.
                         role of installations
    The Marine Corps 2030 Strategic Logistics Plan outlines the 
enterprise's strategy for configuring and enhancing future logistics 
capabilities to sustain the force in the 21st century in terms of four 
objectives: enabling global logistics awareness, diversifying 
distribution, improving sustainment, and optimizing installations for 
sustained operations. Optimizing our installations is critical for 
achieving the objectives of this plan, and providing the logistics 
support that will ensure operational readiness for the future force.
    Our installations play a key role in meeting the challenges that 
our Nation faces. The Marine Corps' overseas installations are 
especially critical as advanced naval bases in support of naval and 
joint operations. This infrastructure must be properly maintained to 
prevent degradation of our capability to train and generate readiness 
for global employment to support our mission-essential tasks. The 
readiness of this infrastructure cannot just be measured in terms of 
the physical condition of our buildings but must also consider the 
optimal posture of the force around the globe and our resilience 
against the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events. We 
must have resilient infrastructure, both in CONUS and abroad, to enable 
delivery of capabilities from across the service enterprise.
    Resiliency efforts require hardened critical infrastructure to 
maintain support to the force across the competition continuum and 
before, during, and after deployment. Increasing the capability and 
capacity of our installations underpins our forward presence. In this 
new environment there is no sanctuary and our bases require 
modernization against future threats ranging from conventional kinetic 
attack to cybersecurity breaches to damage from extreme weather events.
                       fy23 milcon budget request
    To meet these challenges, the Marine Corps has requested over $1.2B 
for military construction projects in FY23. This budget request 
supports the National Defense Strategy and long-term implementation of 
the Commandant's Infrastructure Reset Strategy. This year's request has 
a broad focus and includes projects that invest in:

  --Life, health, and safety issues such as the Basilone Road 
        realignment project at Camp Pendleton;

  --Quality of life projects, including a barracks at Kadena Air Force 
        Base in Okinawa, Japan;

  --Infrastructure support for new platforms and investments in 
        utilities infrastructure; and

  --Projects that support the Marine Corps' current and future presence 
        in the Pacific.

    On any given day, more than 22,000 Marines are forward-postured 
west of the International Date Line, and many are inside China's 
weapons engagement zone. In support of this posture, over half of the 
Marine Corps' FY23 military construction budget is focused on Pacific 
installations. Of these Pacific projects, four are on Guam totaling 
over $381M. Although this is a $149M decrease from FY22, there will be 
over $1.5B in projects in execution on the island in FY23. Construction 
at MSB Camp Blaz is currently 13 percent complete, with 34 active 
projects. In spite of a few delayed starts due to last year's 
continuing resolution, this program is currently on track to comply 
with the international agreement. Funding modern and resilient 
infrastructure in the Pacific is critical, so that Marines are postured 
in a fighting stance for crisis response and campaigning.
                            quality of life
    The quality of life of our Marines, Sailors, and their families, is 
integral to the readiness and effectiveness of our force, and the 
Marine Corps recognizes the critical importance of our child 
development centers, family housing, and unaccompanied housing 
portfolios. Construction on the new child development center at MCAS 
Miramar will be complete this summer, with three more projects planned 
in the Future Years Defense Program.
    In its unaccompanied housing portfolio, the Marine Corps renovated 
16 barracks in fiscal year 2021 and is in the process of renovating 12 
barracks in FY22; we anticipate renovating an additional 15 barracks in 
FY23 at a cost of $110M. The renovations completed in fiscal year 2021 
to FY23 will positively impact approximately 4,000 Marines living in 
the barracks.
    The Marine Corps' focus on family housing in fiscal year 2021 
included implementation of the four remaining provisions in the 
Tenant's Bill of Rights: universal lease, dispute resolution, 7-year 
maintenance summary, and rent withholding. The Marine Corps continues 
to work with its housing partners and the other Services to ensure that 
our housing is safe and meets the needs of our residents. The Marine 
Corps has requested over $230M in family housing construction and 
operations in FY23, of which the largest investment will be $162.3M for 
the construction of 116 family housing units in Guam.
                  installations resiliency initiatives
    The Marine Corps views installation resiliency through an 
operational readiness lens: resilient installations are the platforms 
that enable operational readiness. This resiliency rests in the ability 
to maintain reliable access to critical functions, such as an effective 
power grid, clean water distribution, and communications capabilities, 
as well as the ability to train and equip Marines, and care for Marines 
and their families. Understanding that training and operations must 
continue even when there are extreme weather events, the Marine Corps 
has undertaken several initiatives to ensure that installation 
resiliency requirements are understood and appropriately prioritized.
    The Marine Corps is currently developing installation master plans 
that address the impacts of climate change, sea-level rise, and major 
weather events at our bases and stations. The Marine Corps has also 
developed two new decision support tools to help make smart facility 
investment decisions. These tools focus investments on the most 
critical and significant assets and maintains the installations 
enterprise at a higher state of readiness.
    Recent infrastructure investments have included projects that 
reduce reliance on fossil fuels and off-base energy grids. For example, 
Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany is the first Marine Corps Net Zero 
Installation: the base generated more power through green energy 
sources than it consumed in calendar year 2021, and provided 7.9 MWh 
back to the local grid. The transition to Net Zero has improved the 
resiliency of the base while reducing reliance on traditional energy 
sources and cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions.
    Building on the success of the smart grid at MCAS Miramar, the 
Marine Corps has also invested in a microgrid at Marine Corps Recruit 
Depot Parris Island. These microgrids can power mission essential 
functions for up to 21 days in the event of an energy blackout, 
ensuring continuity of operations and can provide a resource to local 
governments in the event of an emergency. The Marine Corps will use 
lessons learned from these projects to make smart, resilient 
investments both in CONUS and overseas. Continuing to invest in 
projects such as Net Zero initiatives and smart grids will place the 
Marine Corps on a trajectory to meet future requirements while 
withstanding disruptive weather events.
    Finally, the Marine Corps is also investing in the modernization of 
its Organic Industrial Base (OIB). In 2019, the Marine Corps OIB 
Facilities Plan and the United States Senate Report on the Readiness of 
the Marine Corps OIB were developed. This 25-year plan provides the 
strategy to optimize existing facilities, construct new facilities, and 
improve workflow processes and productivity at the Marine Corps' two 
depot production plants and long-term equipment storage sites in 
Albany, Georgia, and Barstow, California; and at Marine Corps Support 
Facility at Blount Island Command, Florida. To date, the Marine Corps 
has completed five projects; two are under construction, and one is 
planned to start construction in summer 2022.
                               conclusion
    The Marine Corps is undergoing a significant transition in how it 
is organized, trained, and equipped, to meet current and evolving 
threats from our adversaries. In addition to developing new operating 
concepts, increasing integration with the Navy, and modernizing the 
equipment we employ, the Marine Corps' installations infrastructure 
must also evolve. Our operational capabilities are adapting to meet 
threat changes, and we need to invest in the next generation 
installation infrastructure to match the Marine Corps' evolving 
capabilities. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you 
today, and for your oversight, input, and support as we determine the 
infrastructure requirements that will best position the Marine Corps 
for mission accomplishment. I look forward to working with you to 
sustain our warfighting capability and the readiness of our power 
projection platforms.

    Senator Heinrich. Thank you, General. We are going to take 
a brief recess while the two of us go and vote, and then we 
will come back and start five-minute round questions.
    [Recess.]
    Senator Heinrich. I call this hearing back to order, and 
start the standard five-minute rounds. I will begin by 
recognizing myself, and then we will go to Senator Boozman, and 
trade it back and forth
    Mr. Cramer, I mentioned in my opening statement that I was 
encouraged by the ERCIP request in this budget, and of 
particular interest is the increase in planning and design 
funding, which should help build out the projects there that 
are ready to execute in the coming years. It is also my 
understanding that the ERCIP program is undergoing some reforms 
to improve planning and execution.
    Can you talk a little bit about the need for significant 
planning and design request, and how the Department is 
improving how it identifies requirements as well as how it 
develops and executes ERCIP projects.
    Mr. Cramer. Yes Senator, thanks for that question. Yeah, so 
it is a--so ERCIP has a long history of getting to where we are 
at today. It used to be a program that was lump sum funded, and 
we developed the projects, and the projects would then take 
four-plus, 5 years in order to actually get under contract and 
executed. In a lot of cases the projects would fall off. And so 
over the years we have been trying to get ERCIP to look more 
like the MILCON process, where we have a Future Years Defense 
Program (FYDP).
    And then so this year for the first year's we are actually 
going to see that effectuated, because we have got the 
leadership commitment to fund the P&D, so the $200-plus million 
is a surge that is going to allow us to get more projects to 
that 35 percent design mark, so that we can get projects 
awarded in the year of appropriation. I think that is where you 
will see where the inflation, cost of living growth, eats away 
at our ability to do projects that we are just not quite, 
frankly, ready.
    And so what the surge in P&D is going to allow us to do is 
build the FYDP for ERCIP projects. And we have done the 
notifications, so you can see some of that types really going 
after the microgrids that are going to make a difference on the 
installations. And then so without the----without the P&D, we 
are not going to be able to then get the energy projects that 
we need in the time that we need it. And that is more to the 
left, not to the right, so we are really going to rely on that 
P&D to get an ERCIP FYDP.
    And I will let my two colleagues answer if they want.
    Senator Heinrich. Admiral.
    Admiral Williamson. Yes, sir. We are very excited about 
ERCIP, particularly from improving our theater posture. We have 
$133 million right now going in for eight projects, a large 
portion of those are in Guam. In addition to that, keeping the 
operational output and the resilience of our bases, SIOP, ERCIP 
fits very nicely into that as well. Norfolk Naval Shipyard, we 
are looking at a project there, Joint Base Pearl Harbor, Hickam 
the same.
    In addition to that, we also are taking a look at the 
controls. One of the other things, ERCIP, we can leverage and 
bring into it, is also cybersecurity. Those three things go 
very much hand-in-hand.
    We take a look at that holistically, not only from an 
investment of the infrastructure, but also from a logistics 
perspective, anything we can do to help with our energy 
consumption allows us freedom of maneuver. In addition to that, 
taking full advantage of electrification also related to ERCIP, 
kind of looking at the whole package, if you will.
    We are increasing from 1,300, roughly, vehicles, electric 
vehicles to 1,600 this year. In addition to that we are putting 
another 1,200 outlets in. That allows us now to take a look at 
how we support Distribution Management Office (DMO) and the AVO 
in the Pacific, working with Ted and his team.
    In addition to that, I also think assessment, and something 
my Chief taught me a long time ago, you must be proficient. So 
we have also incorporated a handbook which we have given to our 
base commanders, we do exercises now which actually test the 
electrical infrastructure to help highlight potential areas for 
us to invest in.
    And I will turn over to Ted now.
    General Banta. Thanks Ricky. Senator, thanks for the 
question. So similar to the Navy, we really appreciated the 
opportunity to use the ERCIP program to improve the resiliency 
of some of our installations. I mentioned in my opening 
statement about the microgrids that we have developed on five 
of our installations right now, quite a bit of support from the 
ERCIP program to develop those.
    And it really improves our operational readiness, and our 
operational resiliency, not only here in CONUS, but also as we 
move further west into the Pacific, what we would call our 
advanced naval bases.
    So we have made pretty good use of the program, seven 
projects from fiscal year 2018 to 2022. We have got one in 
fiscal year 2023, for a microgrid at Bridgeport, and then we 
have got five more in fiscal year 2024, and we are looking at 
trying to develop seven more in fiscal year 2025.
    Senator Heinrich. Great.
    General Banta. So tremendously valuable, it has been 
helpful to us, and it is not just microgrids, it is also 
controls, as Admiral Williamson had mentioned. So thank you for 
the opportunity to comment, sir.
    Senator Heinrich. Absolutely. And I am really thrilled to 
see the use of storage, in particular within those microgrids. 
We have come a long way in just a couple of years.
    So with that, Ranking Member Boozman.
    Senator Boozman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What I would like 
to do is trade with Senator Collins.
    Senator Collins. Thank you very much. I very much 
appreciate that, Senator Boozman, and Mr. Chairman.
    Admiral Williamson, this year's budget requests more than 
$500 million for the third increment of the Multi-Mission Dry 
Dock Number One extension at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, in 
Kittery, Maine. This project, I don't have to tell you, is 
vitally important to the readiness of the submarine fleet. 
Beginning in 2024, scheduled Virginia class maintenance 
availabilities at the shipyard will exceed its capacity, and 
failure to complete this project would result in 20 deferred 
maintenance availabilities through 2040.
    This project simply must be completed on time or we will 
risk our submarines not being available to accomplish their 
missions. We are faced with high inflation, as far as labor 
costs, and construction materials are concerned, and they have 
an impact on this project. Is the Navy committed to ensuring 
that this project remains on track and on time?
    Admiral Williamson. Yes ma'am. Absolutely, we are committed 
for all the reasons you just said. As we look at the costing, 
as going forward, applying lessons learned from the first time 
out the gate, obviously are going to be very important to 
maintain our ability to stay on scope, stay on cost, and stay 
on schedule.
    As we mature our area development plans, as we build our 
dry docks, as that vision is getting much clearer now, we are 
beginning to find opportunities to push things to the left 
without then cause any risk to either maintenance critical 
path, or the SIOP critical path. And so we have taken into 
account cost for inflation, material cost, cost of labor.
    We are using third-party estimators and economists now to 
help us better refine that. So also within our budget you will 
also see us ask for the money to make up some of the difference 
from the projects from 2022. But we are committed to that, 
ma'am.
    Senator Collins. Thank you. I am very glad to hear that. As 
you know, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is considered the gold 
standard among our public shipyards, and we are very proud of 
the contribution that the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard makes to 
our Navy and our national security.
    Mr. Cramer, I just returned from a Senate trip to Kyiv in 
Ukraine, to Sweden, and Finland. So I am particularly 
interested in the European defense--or Deterrence Initiative. 
The Department's budget request also includes $746 million for 
infrastructure projects in Europe, to help deter Russian 
aggression against NATO, and to reassure our allies.
    This includes MILCON for two training complexes at 
Grafenwoehr, Germany, which I visited in France--not France--in 
March to observe the training operations of Army units that 
deployed in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. How is 
the Department planning for infrastructure changes that may 
result from adjustments to our force posture in Europe 
following Russian's invasion?
    Mr. Cramer. Senator, it is a great question. I will be 
out--speaking out of my lane if I talk about force posture, but 
I can--I do want to extend the thanks to Congress for the past 
funds that were provided under the EDI, ERI, going way back to 
2014. So our ability to surge in Europe today, in the current 
crisis, was based on all of those investments that we have done 
over the last 8 years.
    And so I think what you will find is the investments going 
forward, will expand upon previous investments that are going 
to allow us to then shape the force the way that the Secretary 
and the President want to, as we go forward. I don't know that 
we are at the position where we can commit to force structure 
or force posture, but we have capitalized on previous 
investments that allow us to surge to the point where we are 
quite successful today.
    Senator Collins. Thank you.
    Senator Heinrich. Senator Tester.
    Senator Tester. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the 
work you and the ranking member do on this committee.
    Mr. Cramer, your opening statement talked about Military 
Housing Privatization Initiative, even as privatized housing is 
seen, it has been faced with challenges recently, there is 
still a critical housing shortage for our Service members. Does 
this budget support any new privatized housing projects?
    Mr. Cramer. So privatized housing, as you are aware, is the 
new houses are funded through basic allowance for housing, a 
private partner, except in the cases where we have some 
projects and the Air Force has these mainly as they have funds 
within their budget that are going to then support their 
projects going forward, and that would then support new housing 
construction at specific bases to support the Air Force.
    But specifically, the current budget does not envision new 
houses directly for privatized housing. We do have dollars in 
there to build our--or excuse me--DOD-owned housing in the 
Marine Corps, as General Banta had mentioned, and in the Army, 
and the Air Force, so we do within our owned inventory.
    Senator Tester. I will get to that in a second. So I have 
heard from many of the secretaries that it is hard to meet the 
goals of where we want to be as far as end force strength. The 
housing issue, my guess is, it is the same in Arkansas, and the 
same in New Mexico, as it is in Montana.
    There are no houses off base. There are just none. And the 
houses that are off base, the rents have gone through the roof. 
So the question is, if we are going to expect, or demand, that 
the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine, Coast Guard, the works, 
meets our end strength, how is it even possible without 
housing?
    Mr. Cramer. So it is, as you reference, Senator, yeah the 
housing shortage is not just specific to the Department, it is 
a nationwide issue. And so within the Department of Defense, 
another Under Secretary Office, P&R, actually runs the BAH 
Program, and that is a survey of the rents in order to set that 
allowance so that we can afford--or our Service members can 
afford to rent off post.
    It doesn't do much for the inventory, you know, and 
actually to expand the inventory it is going to be a couple of 
years down the road, but we do have a mechanism within, to 
allow--to get the right entitlements in, and Service members' 
pockets; the Secretary did approve some temporary BAH increases 
prior to the end of last year that will, in certain areas, 
where we saw a high cost of rents. This is the time of the year 
when we start doing the BAH surveys for next year. So the 
military installations are part and parcel within the 
contractors that go out and test that rent.
    So I know it doesn't help ease any housing crisis today but 
it allows the entitlements to match what the projected housing 
costs are going to be going into next year.
    Senator Tester. I have got you. I think it is--and I 
appreciate everything that has been done, because I think it is 
stuff that has to be done. I think the problem is, we don't 
have inventory. We just don't have inventory. And if we bring 
up your counterparts, and beat the hell out of them, because 
they don't have their end strength where they are, I think we 
have really put them in a bind, if there is really no place to 
live.
    And by the way, they know it. I mean, they know it. And so 
let us talk about the on-base stuff more, because that is where 
the young service members, single service members live, and 
that environment for them, from a recruitment and a retention 
standpoint, it is also very, very important much less, very 
important for the job that they do in making sure that they are 
able to do the job that they are assigned.
    So give me an idea about what is in this budget for the DOD 
to improve the living conditions for our young, unaccompanied 
service members?
    Mr. Cramer. So I would think----
    Senator Tester. You can defer it.
    Mr. Cramer. Yeah. I was going to say, we do fund within our 
normal--I will just start with a top line message--our 
sustainment, restoration, modernization funds do have funds in 
there to sustain the inventory. We have put in a number of 
projects. And General Banta had mentioned, some for the Marine 
Corps, and the Navy, for this panel.
    But we do have an investment, it is a continual investment 
in our unaccompanied housing, and I will defer to----
    Senator Tester. Just before you start, Lieutenant General. 
So sustainment is important, but growth is also important. And 
so I want you to address both of them, if you could.
    General Banta. Thank you, Senator. So the Secretary is 
correct, that we have made investments in both growing our BEQ, 
Bachelor Enlisted Quarters capacity, but also looking at what 
will it take to sustain it. Very quickly, a total of 680 
barracks across the Marine Corps, the vast majority are 
actually in pretty decent shape, either Q1 or Q2 on the 
Facilities Condition Index, and that is about 84 percent of 
them, that is not to say that there isn't more work to do, and 
we have done work over the years to include investing 3.3 
billion from fiscal year 2008 to 2023.
    Moving forward, we have got 12 renovations that are 
underway this year, and then we have got 15 additional 
renovations planned for fiscal year 2023. So as far as 
improving----
    Senator Tester. And that is just for the Marine Corps, 
correct?
    General Banta. That is just for the Marine Corps.
    Senator Tester. The other services have equivalent or more?
    General Banta. I would defer to the other services, 
Senator.
    Senator Tester. Okay. We will assume they are, and we will 
find out.
    General Banta. Yes, sir. And then I would just say for the 
projects in actual new construction, we have got two bachelor-
enlisted quarters in fiscal year 2023, over in Japan, one on 
Kadena Air Base, and one on Camp Butler. And then we have 
requested four additional BEQs on our unfunded priority list, 
to help expand capacity at bases at our recruit depots, as well 
as Hawaii.
    Senator Tester. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I apologize.
    Senator Heinrich. No worries. Ranking Member Boozman.
    Senator Boozman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I mentioned 
earlier the many economic factors facing the Department in 
budget development, project execution, such as extreme market 
volatility and record inflation.
    Vice Admiral Williamson, and Lieutenant General Banta, I 
would like to know, one, how these are impacting your fiscal 
year 2023 Budget estimates, and your plan to address cost 
increases? And two, the impacts you are seeing on project 
execution? And what you are doing to mitigate the issues? And 
very importantly, is there anything that we can do as a 
committee?
    Admiral Williamson. Yes, sir. Thank you very much for the 
question. I will start with the projects that are in execution 
now from fiscal year 2022. We are experiencing somewhere 
between a 16 to 33 percent increase due to inflation. We are 
working very diligently to make sure those projects stay on 
schedule, but obviously there will be some impacts from that.
    Projecting forward, how do we handle this going forward? 
Looking at fiscal year 2023 projects, and beyond, we are 
estimating right now somewhere between 9 to 17 percent increase 
to the price, due to interruptions in the supply chain, and 
increased cost of fuel, increased cost of material, increased 
costs to the workforce.
    So we are monitoring those very closely. As I said earlier, 
we are pulling some of the lessons we learned out of the SIOP, 
and using third-party assessors and economists to help us stay 
ahead of these things, so that we can plan better. In addition 
to that, we have also found that by putting more money into 
planning and designing helps us get closer to cost schedule and 
scope, which will allow us to maintain--stay ahead of those 
issues.
    You asked, you know, what would benefit? I think increasing 
our reprogramming thresholds, I think that would give us 
greater flexibility to execute the projects, particularly 
reprogramming within the MILCON to stay on schedule. In 
addition to that, a lot of projects are also FSRM, O&M-related. 
Multi-year funding I think would also allow us, not only to 
deal with inflation, but continuous resolution, and things like 
that. That would give us the flexibility to stay on track. Ted?
    General Banta. Thanks Admiral. So Admiral Williamson and I 
both draw from the same data sources here, from Naval 
Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), so the 
inflation estimates that he referenced we agree with, and we 
have the similar concerns.
    I would say in terms of where it helps us, he specifically 
mentioned the FSRM, and OMMC being a multi-year appropriation, 
for the reasons he said. That would be tremendously helpful, it 
would give us more flexibility, and the ability to plan and 
then execute over a long period of time, and mitigate the 
impact of continuing resolutions. So I think that would be 
helpful.
    We do have a number of homes that we are currently 
constructing over on Guam, the area cost factor there is 
significant, and then compounded by inflation, so there has 
been a significant cost increase with those that we are looking 
at as well. Thank you, sir.
    Mr. Cramer. If you don't mind. Just to put a finer point on 
it. So you had mentioned incremental funding, and that actually 
helps us then hedge some inflation, because we are not having 
to pay that full bill during high years, because as most of the 
data will show, high inflation is always followed by some lower 
number.
    And so with, you know, excess today turns into bid savings 
later on and so, you know, we can do split funding to account 
for a lot of that as we go forward. Incremental funding is a 
definite help going forward.
    Senator Boozman. Very good. Have you gotten any guidance 
put out by OSD addressing this?
    Mr. Cramer. So we are now in trying to analyze as we are 
looking to 2023, because that is the budget in front of us, but 
the 2022 is also going to have an impact on it. So we have done 
some analysis of--as Admiral Williamson, and General Banta had 
mentioned, with Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command 
(NAVFAC) looking at it, the Corps of Engineers is also looking 
at, what is the cost of construction.
    Senator Boozman. Right.
    Mr. Cramer. And on the A&S side, our acquisition folks are 
looking at what is the greater, you know, cost of growth within 
all of our programs, because 2022, what we do or do not get 
done in 2022, will affect 2023.
    Senator Boozman. Right.
    Mr. Cramer. And so we are not only looking at, you know, 
the projections we have done for fiscal year 2023, but we have 
to be informed about what we are going to actually get done 
this year. And split funding in MILCON allows us to hedge some 
of that bet but, you know, not all of it. As we said O&M, we 
have got to get all those done this year, and what we don't 
buy, we then buy next year. So it is a compounding effect.
    Senator Boozman. All right; very good. Thank you, Mr. 
Chairman.
    Senator Heinrich. Thank you. In the interest of getting to 
the second panel, we are going to skip a second round. But 
Admiral Williamson, I have a couple of questions for the record 
regarding the situation at Red Hill, the lack of cost estimates 
and ongoing assessments, given some of the commitments that 
have been made there, in particular with the Hawaiian 
Department of Health. So I will get you those for the record, 
and you can get back to me.
    And with that we can let our first panel go. And ask our 
second panel to take their seats.
    Senator Boozman. And I think I will be submitting some too. 
So we will give you all some homework to do. So thank you all.
    Senator Heinrich. I would like to welcome our second panel. 
Representing the Army is Lieutenant General Jason Evans, Deputy 
Chief of Staff, G-9 Installations.
    From the Air Force we have Lieutenant General Warren Berry, 
Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering, and Force 
Protection.
    And Mr. Bruce Hollywood, Associate Chief of Operations 
Officer for the United States Space Force.
    We will ask our witnesses to make opening statements, 
beginning with General Evans followed by General Berry, and 
then Mr. Hollywood.
    General Evans, you can proceed with your opening statement.
STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL JASON EVANS, DEPUTY 
            CHIEF OF STAFF, G-9, INSTALLATIONS, UNITED 
            STATES ARMY
    General Evans. Chairman Heinrich, Ranking Member Boozman, 
and distinguished members of the committee. On behalf of 1 
million soldiers and 2.2 million family members, thank you for 
your continued support of our Army, and for supporting our 
budget request for fiscal year 2023, and for providing 
additional billion dollars in funding for key programs, such as 
barracks, childcare facilities, housing.
    The Army's budget for installations is aligned with 
priorities set by the Army senior leaders, people, 
modernization, readiness, alliances, and partnerships.
    In this year's fiscal 2023 budget, we are requesting $8.1 
billion for the Army's Installation Infrastructure, $1.9 
billion of that is military construction; $6.2 billion is 
facilities, sustainment, restoration, and modernization.
    Our MILCON request is focused on improving soldier and 
family quality of life. It also includes projects to improve 
readiness, and modernization, for all components at various 
locations throughout the United States. To make the best use of 
funding allotted to the Army, we are working to balance 
sustainment, restoration, modernization, and demolition across 
all components, especially as projects typically have a faster 
impact on improving our facilities rather than just a pure 
MILCON solution.
    We must continue to ensure our soldiers and their families 
have access to safe, and high quality housing, by remaining 
focused on improving our privatized housing portfolio, and by 
continuing to implement measures to increase the safety, 
quality and habitability of the privatized housing, by ensuring 
military privatized housing companies, are accountable for 
project performance.
    During February of 2022, the Army released a comprehensive 
climate strategy that is well nested with DOD's climate 
adaptation plan. The Army climate strategy directs actions to 
enable our force to operate in changing environments, 
strengthens the resilience of our installations, and increases 
the capabilities of our force, while also reducing our 
greenhouse gas emissions.
    We also continue to leverage the Defense Climate Assessment 
Tool, to identify potential hazards caused by climate change, 
and inform our mitigation planning efforts.
    I appreciate this opportunity to discuss the importance of 
the Army's Military Construction's initiatives. At every Army 
installation we endeavor to take care of soldiers, their 
families, by ensuring access to quality facilities, housing, 
barracks, and childcare.
    And to do that, we need your continued support by providing 
timely, adequate, sustainable, and predictable funding, so our 
installations remain ready, and resilient, and provide the 
quality of life that our soldiers and families deserve.
    Again, I appreciate this opportunity, and look forward to 
your questions.
    [The statement follows:]
                Prepared Statement of LTG Jason T. Evans
    Chairman Heinrich, Ranking Member Boozman, and members of the 
subcommittee: on behalf of the soldiers, families, and civilians of the 
United States Army, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to 
present the Army's Fiscal Year 2023 budget request for installation 
infrastructure.
    I would like to begin by thanking the members of this subcommittee 
for your strong support of Army installations, soldiers, and families. 
Your support of the Army's fiscal Year2023 Budget request allows us to 
move forward with essential projects such as improvements to barracks, 
family housing, and childcare facilities. These key projects will 
greatly assist the Army in addressing quality of life issues of concern 
to Congress and to Army leadership at every level.
    Most importantly, your actions directly enable the Army's continued 
support of our soldiers, their families, and our civilian workforce. As 
Secretary Wormuth stated, people remain the Army's greatest strength 
and our most valuable asset. Our people live, train, and deploy from 
our installations. The Army is committed to ensuring that our 
installations provide the quality of life services that members of the 
Army family deserve, as well as modernized infrastructure and related 
services for training and readiness. Installations are the places where 
unit cultures, cohesive teams, and resilient soldiers are forged, 
improvements to Army installations and quality of life services 
directly support the Army's ``people first'' priority, while posturing 
the Army to recruit, train, and retain high-quality soldiers, prepared 
to win against any foe.
    I look forward to sharing with you those components of our fiscal 
Year2023 President's Budget Request that reflect the Army's need for 
developing modern, resilient, sustainable installations; enhancing 
strategic readiness to operate in a contested environment; and 
delivering quality facilities, services, and quality of life 
initiatives to support to our soldiers, their families, and our Army 
civilians.
                    the army installations strategy
    The Army Installations Strategy (AIS) sets the framework for how we 
prioritize our people through installation management. With a Stated 
focus of taking care of people, strengthening readiness and resilience, 
modernizing and innovating, and promoting stewardship, the AIS 
represents a data-driven way of doing business that can adapt to 
changing circumstances.
                         taking care of people
    The AIS is the framework for how the Army keeps its promise to take 
care of our people. The investments we make to sustain and improve our 
installations directly support our people, prioritize critical quality 
of life programs, and provide soldiers, families, and civilians access 
to high-quality housing, healthcare, and childcare
                      family housing and barracks
    We rely on our soldiers to keep this country safe, and in turn, it 
is our obligation to treat our soldiers and their families with 
dignity, by ensuring their access to safe, high quality on-base 
housing. We must not break trust with those who serve this great 
country so very well. The Army remains focused on improving our 
privatized housing portfolio and will continue to implement measures to 
increase the safety, quality, and habitability of privatized housing 
and to ensure the MHPI companies are held accountable for project 
performance.
    The Army has made significant progress in taking actions to enhance 
our oversight of privatized housing and holding MHPI companies 
accountable for delivering housing and providing customer service that 
meets our high standards. For example, we have hired an additional 114 
full-time professionals to oversee the Army's entire housing portfolio, 
whose responsibilities include advocating for and providing referral 
services to military families needing housing. In addition, the Army 
conducts comprehensive housing quality assurance inspections at each 
change of occupancy and we are implementing third-party housing 
inspections of all Army privatized housing (and government-owned family 
housing) as required by the fiscal Year2020 and fiscal Year2021 NDAAs. 
In 2021, the Army conducted a third party, pilot inspection of 
privatized housing units at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, allowing the 
Department to consider the results and feedback from this pilot 
inspection before finalizing the newly released DoD Uniform Housing 
Standard and inspection requirement. The pilot inspections, which cost 
about $1,000 per home, were completed for 90 percent (1,879) of Fort 
Belvoir's 2,078 privatized family housing units; the inspections were 
not completed at homes where the residents refused access by the 
inspection team, typically due to health-related (e.g., COVID-19) 
concerns. The inspections found that the majority of MHPI housing units 
at Fort Belvoir are in good or excellent condition and identified no 
systemic issues impacting habitability. In December 2021, the Army 
initiated third-party inspections of all privatized housing at Fort 
Meade, Maryland, using the DoD Uniform Housing Standard, with funding 
for additional inspection requirements included in the Army's fiscal 
Year2023 budget request.
    In addition, the Army has fully implemented all 18 of the MHPI 
Tenant Bill of Rights at all of our installations, thereby providing 
soldiers and their families negotiating power with the private 
companies, including a process for resolving disputes and gaining 
access to maintenance records. We continue to host weekly meetings with 
stakeholders and privatized housing companies to review the physical 
and financial condition of our MHPI housing stock, as well as the 
status of families displaced due to maintenance and repair actions. 
Furthermore, independent third-party experts are performing 
comprehensive audit reviews of the privatized housing companies' 
financial and business practices, with reviews completed at 14 MHPI 
projects and another seven reviews in progress. In accordance with the 
MHPI project legal agreements, the Army controls the payment of 
financial incentives to privatized housing companies as a means to 
encourage improved work order response times, achieve better quality 
work, and increase resident satisfaction. Where the MHPI housing 
companies do not achieve desired performance, the Army will evaluate 
the appropriateness of such incentive payments and take action to 
encourage and hold the MHPI company accountable for project 
performance.
    The Army has continued our collaboration with the MHPI companies to 
explore and execute opportunities within the MHPI housing project to 
improve the quality and safety of the homes by accelerating renovation 
or replacement, doing so in a manner that does not jeopardize the long-
term financial viability of the MHPI project. The Army's privatized 
housing providers have committed to a $3 billion investment in MHPI 
housing over the next 10 years to make or accelerate needed 
improvements across the portfolio. Half of that money will come from 
new private investments and half will come from funds accumulated in 
project reinvestment accounts.
    Likewise, the Army has invested over $900 million in the past three 
fiscal years (FY 2019-2021) on construction, improvements, and 
maintenance for Army-owned family housing. The Army's fiscal Year2023 
budget request includes $605.7 million to fund construction, operation, 
and maintenance of government-owned and leased family housing worldwide 
to continue to provide quality family housing for soldiers and their 
families stationed overseas. In addition, we are addressing our 
unaccompanied housing (UH) challenges with Facilities Sustainment, 
Restoration, and Modernization funds, as well as Military Construction. 
The result has been a $2.4 billion investment in barracks construction, 
restoration, and modernization over the last three fiscal years (FY 
2019-2021), with billions more programed for the future to ensure 
improved conditions in barracks. The Army is focused on modernizing 
barracks by providing each soldier his/her own room, enhancing security 
through the use of video cameras, and for new construction, updating 
suite amenities to commercial standards. To ensure we are able to 
address maintenance needs in a timely fashion, we have implemented the 
Army Maintenance Application, which allows soldiers to directly submit 
a maintenance claim without having to wait for their chain of command 
to input a work order. Finally, the Army is evaluating opportunities to 
address UH requirements within a more holistic Army Barracks Strategy.
    In sum, the Army's goal is to apply multiple solutions across our 
installations to ensure every soldier lives in a high quality, fully 
functional home environment that is conducive to military readiness and 
family safety. We will continue to engage with Congress at every step 
of the way as we implement necessary reforms to our housing program. We 
appreciate the Congress' past support of our investment in Army 
housing, and we ask for your continued funding support for the Army's 
operations and maintenance, and construction investment to ensure that 
our government-owned, leased, and privatized family and unaccompanied 
housing provides a high quality of life for U.S. military personnel and 
their families.
                        historic housing program
    Many of our soldiers and families live in historic housing on 
installations around the world; historic housing brings with it a 
unique set of modernization challenges for high quality living 
standards. The Army is facing the extraordinary challenge of managing 
the largest inventory of historic housing in the Federal Government. 
This requires the Army, and our privatized housing companies, to 
confront the high costs of historic renovation; mitigate hazards found 
in historic building materials such as lead- based paint and asbestos; 
and address the need for expanded living space and modernization, all 
while preserving the historic features of over 30,000 historic homes. 
Following the Army's September 2020 agreement with the National Council 
on Historic Preservation, the Army and our MHPI housing projects have 
more efficiently and cost effectively renovated more than 3,200 Inter-
War Era homes. This has directly improved the living conditions and the 
quality of life, health, and safety for the thousands of Army family 
members who live in Inter-War Era housing, while ensuring the 
preservation of the historic and architectural character of this 
housing.
                               child care
    Another important component of taking care of our people is by 
providing quality childcare where availability of off-post care is 
limited. The Army is implementing strategies to improve access to the 
best childcare available. This includes funding seven new Child 
Development Centers by fiscal Year 2027, an estimated $120 million 
investment, and hiring and retaining highly qualified childcare 
providers. We also continue to invest in the Army fee assistance 
program to buy down the cost of off-post services where on-post 
services are unavailable, with the goal of further alleviating this 
burden on our families. The Army knows that these services are critical 
to supporting the needs of our people, and we greatly appreciate recent 
actions by Congress in funding new facilities in Hawaii, Fort 
Wainwright, Fort Knox, and Fort Leavenworth. Recognizing that our 
installations are also hometowns, we can, and will do better at 
providing services to those children who accompany our Army across the 
country and globe.
                  strengthen readiness and resilience
    Every operational deployment starts at an installation where our 
soldiers work, train, drill, and live. Given current threats, we must 
plan for any future deployments to be conducted from a contested 
homeland. Only a modern, resilient installation will give the Army the 
capability to project power effectively under any adverse condition. 
The Army must adapt its installations, acquisitions programs, and 
training programs to be able to operate in a changing environment.
                         army climate strategy
    Our installations are the Army's front line, and we must be able to 
project installation power sources under any adverse condition, 
including those caused by a changing climate. Our installations, our 
soldiers and families are experiencing the direct effects of climate 
change all too frequently, ranging from flash flooding at Fort Hood in 
2016, to wildfires at Fort Hunter Liggett in 2019, and a significant 
ice storm at Fort Hood in 2021. The Army is regularly called upon to 
interrupt training and other mission-related activities to aid in 
civilian disaster response operations following climate change- induced 
weather events. In response to these realities, and recognizing the 
National security threat posed by climate change, in February 2022, the 
Army became the first service to release a comprehensive climate 
strategy. The Army Climate Strategy (ACS) directs actions to enable our 
force to operate in a changing environment, strengthens the resilience 
of our installations, and increases the capabilities of our force, 
while also reducing our own greenhouse gas emissions.
    ACS establishes objectives which will enable our forces to operate 
more effectively in a climate-altered world through three lines of 
effort-installations, acquisition and logistics, and training. For 
example, to increase the resilience of our installations, the ACS 
targets carbon-free, installation-based energy generation, which, 
paired with battery storage and microgrids, will enable the Army to 
self-sustain our critical missions by making us less vulnerable to 
local power outages. On the operational side, greater fuel efficiency 
of our tactical vehicles will increase our capabilities by extending 
the range of our combat forces, while simultaneously reducing the 
vulnerability and burden of supply lines that often must move through 
contested areas. This will result in greater protections for our 
soldiers. Electric hybridization of our combat vehicles will allow for 
silent overwatch and will reduce the acoustic and thermal signature of 
our platforms, thereby greatly increasing the safety of our soldiers. 
In sum, the ACS not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions, it also 
enhances the capability of our fighting force and resilience of our 
installations.
                      energy and water resilience
    The Army is the largest consumer of installation energy and water 
in the DoD, spending more than $1 billion per year on these core 
commodities. With few exceptions, our installations rely on commercial 
energy and water sources to accomplish critical missions. The 
vulnerabilities in the interdependent electric grids, natural gas 
pipelines, and water resources supporting our installations jeopardize 
mission infrastructure, installation security, and the Army's ability 
to project power and sustain global operations.
    The Army Installation Energy and Water Strategic Plan establishes 
goals, strategic objectives, and measurable targets to achieve long-
term infrastructure resilience and independence, while promoting 
efficiency and affordability. Building resilience enables Army 
readiness by insulating installations from disruptions in delivery of 
vital energy and water utility services.
    By including measurable targets as part of the strategic plan, we 
are gathering critical data to inform future planning, such as energy 
and water usage and the condition of related infrastructure. 
Installation Energy and Water Plans (IEWPs) relying on this data are 
then developed to outline critical mission needs, characterize energy 
and water baseline conditions, and propose projects and operational 
activities to increase energy and water resilience. The Army has 
completed 61 IEWPs, with most installations scheduled to have these 
plans completed by the end of fiscal Year 2022.
    The Army is also making use of Black Start Exercises (BSE) to 
assess capabilities and reveal energy resilience gaps, which are not 
always discoverable during tabletop exercises. These exercises have 
resulted in improved communication among the Army, local communities, 
and utility companies. We have conducted two BSEs in fiscal Year 2022 
at Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and another is 
scheduled for later this year at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois. In 
compliance with the fiscal Year 2021 NDAA, we have five BSEs scheduled 
at Army installations in fiscal Year 2023 and each year thereafter.
    The Army recognizes the importance of Energy Savings Performance 
Contracts (ESPC) and Utility Energy Service Contracts (UESC) to improve 
efficiency and contribute to resilience. While these privately financed 
projects are targeted at reducing energy and water consumption, they 
also enable the Army to address maintenance and repair backlogs sooner 
than if we rely solely on appropriated funds. To date, we have awarded 
three ESPCs and one UESC in fiscal Year 2022 and anticipate awarding an 
additional eight contracts this fiscal year; providing a total 
estimated capital investment value of approximately $400 million.
    The Army also utilizes the DoD Energy Resilience and Conservation 
Investment Program (ERCIP) to reduce reliance on the grid and allow us 
to construct on-site power generation and associated infrastructure. 
The fiscal Year 2023 President's Budget includes $119.1 million for 
five additional ERCIP projects at Army installations.
                     safety and occupational health
    Ensuring our soldiers and civilians are ready to support the Army 
mission requires continual investments in proactive injury and illness 
prevention-both on the installations and during mission execution. The 
Army is transforming its traditional safety and occupational health 
program through the implementation of an integrated management systems 
approach, with the goal of reducing safety risks at all facility life 
cycle stages, from design and construction through disposal. To ensure 
these techniques are adequately implemented and evaluated, the Army 
continues to invest in the readiness of its safety and occupational 
health workforce through training, education, and partnerships.
                         support and resilience
    We continue to place special emphasis on installations with 
critical and unique needs such as U.S. Army Alaska, Fort Polk, LA, Fort 
Irwin, CA and Ft. Hood, TX, to review and integrate installation 
resources. Some examples include the Assignment Preference Pilot 
Program for U.S. Army Alaska, as well as Assignment Incentive Pay for 
specific locations (e.g., Alaska and Fort Irwin), and improved health 
care provider staffing and behavioral services and working with the 
Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) to review military and family 
life counselor assignments to meet soldiers and family needs. There is 
also a joint Spiritual Readiness initiative between the Office of the 
Chief of Chaplains and the Office of the Surgeon General that connects 
Chaplains and behavioral health professionals with first-term soldiers. 
Moreover, we continue to work with local education authorities at those 
locations to support virtual education pilot programs and efforts. 
Along with promoting spiritual, financial, and medical readiness, we 
continue to promote quality of life through our Morale, Welfare, and 
Recreation programs as well as those programs and services offered 
through installation Army Community Service centers.
                         modernize and innovate
    Modernized installations enable a modernized force. The Army 
Modernization Strategy requires installations to modernize ``at pace'' 
with the rest of the Army to support a modernized Army by 2035. To do 
this, installations must provide facilities, ranges, airfields, and 
support infrastructure that possess the appropriate physical 
characteristics required by new Army weapons systems.
    The Army is programming upgrades to maintenance facilities, motor 
pools, ranges, readiness centers, network infrastructure, 
administrative facilities, secure facilities, and utilities to 
facilitate a modern and ready Army. Force projection requires 
assessment of roads and highways, bridges, ramps, marshaling yards, 
ammunition supply points, railways, and airfields. Real property master 
plan processes will become more technically sophisticated, using data-
informed analysis and modeling to integrate new specifications of 
modern equipment. We are also coordinating closely with the Assistant 
Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy, and Environment, 
Deputy Chiefs of Staff for the G-3/5/7, Army Materiel Command, and 
Installation Management Command to sequence planning actions and to 
complete, in a timely manner, the required environmental analyses under 
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as new weapon systems are 
fielded.
                         promoting stewardship
    The Army's mission is inseparable from the natural habitat that is 
critical to accomplishing that mission. Readiness training for multi-
domain operations, high intensity conflict, and development, testing, 
and fielding for combat system modernization all require access to 
realistic natural landscapes, ecosystems, and environmental conditions. 
Conserving these assets in a sustainable manner is critical not only to 
Army readiness, but also to the well-being of the Total Army and those 
communities that surround and support Army installations.
                       conserve natural resources
    The Army's focus on conserving its natural infrastructure ensures 
training and testing in realistic conditions, and makes certain these 
natural assets remain viable, accessible, and resilient into the 
future. Mission supporting capabilities of our training and testing 
sites are directly impacted by the loss or alteration of the natural 
infrastructure. Documented impacts to the mission include limitations 
on training and testing due to factors such as loss of range facilities 
and assets from wildfires and/or floods, and training restrictions due 
to endangered species and critical habitats. For example, the 226 
threatened or endangered species found on 170 Army installations in the 
United States result in species-related training and testing 
restrictions on over two million acres of land. However, as the Army 
sustains and improves the natural infrastructure providing endangered 
species habitats on our installations, endangered species populations 
can recover over time, thereby reducing the restrictions necessary to 
protect those species.
                        encroachment mitigation
    Army installations are vulnerable to outside encroachment, 
incompatible development, and climate related threats to operations and 
readiness. The Readiness and Protection Integration Program (REPI) 
enables the Army to cooperatively address these impediments while 
providing the flexibility needed for training, testing, and 
modernization, including long-range testing and training land 
capability. The REPI program provides valuable tools for off-base 
conservation partnerships with States, Tribes, private landowners and 
other Federal agencies. These measures support the readiness mission by 
providing buffers around installations as well as other natural 
resource protections. The REPI program can also assist with endangered 
species management by providing off-base mitigation habitat as 
necessary.
                        environmental compliance
    The Army's environmental compliance program encompasses a broad 
range of legal compliance and management efforts that support clean air 
and water, maintain natural and cultural resources, and sustain soldier 
training and readiness on the Army's 13.6 million acres of land. The 
compliance program includes actions to meet the requirements of the 
Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the 
Clean Air Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the National 
Historic Preservation Act, as well as NEPA, among others. By way of 
example, the Army maintains 4,902 environmental permits.
    The Army has an excellent environmental compliance record. The vast 
majority of legacy Army CERCLA sites have been remediated, and of 787 
inspections on Army installations by environmental regulatory agencies 
in fiscal Year 2021, only 34 Enforcement Actions were issued.
                       environmental remediation
    The Army is also taking measures to address the presence of 
chemicals of emerging concern, including per and polyfluoroalkyl 
substances (PFAS). The Army has taken a three-pronged approach to PFAS, 
focusing on cleaning up past releases, testing drinking water, and 
phasing out the use of PFAS-containing aqueous film- forming foam 
(AFFF) in accordance with the deadlines established by Congress. As of 
March 31, 2022, the Army is conducting PFAS assessments at 337 
installations. We continue to test Army-owned drinking water systems 
regularly and take immediate action if we find exceedances of EPA's 
lifetime Health Advisory level of 70 parts per trillion for PFAS. 
Finally, the Army only uses AFFF for fire emergencies and intends to 
phase out its use in accordance with NDAA requirements. The Army is 
committed to prioritizing cleanups at those sites where conditions 
warrant doing so. The Army will be fully transparent about our cleanup 
progress, and we will expand public outreach to neighboring 
communities. The Army's priority remains the health and safety of our 
Service members, their families, Army civilians, and the communities 
surrounding our installations.
         fy 2023 budget request for installation infrastructure
    The Army's fiscal Year 2023 budget requests funding for near-term 
requirements to help modernize installations and make them multi-domain 
ready and resilient.
                         military construction
    Army Military Construction and Family Housing. The Army's fiscal 
Year 2023 military construction and Family Housing request for $1.9 
billion will improve installation readiness, industrial base readiness, 
and soldier quality of life. The quality of life investments consists 
of two new barracks projects for $153 million and two family housing 
projects for $169.3 million. The total request includes $846 million 
for the Active Component (AC), $297 million for the Army National Guard 
(ARNG), $100 million for the U.S. Army Reserve (USAR), and $68 million 
in the Base Closure Account for environmental remediation, caretaker 
services, and program management costs at BRAC sites.
    Military Construction, Army (MCA). Inside the active Army's request 
there is $409 million supporting installation and soldier readiness 
($74 million for training, $64 million for operations, $141 million for 
the industrial base and $130 million in support of quality of life and 
community services) and $153 million for barracks. The active Component 
also has $26 million for host nation support.
    Military Construction, Army Reserve (MCAR). The fiscal Year 2023 
MCAR budget request supports two major construction projects: Army 
Reserve Center at Perrine, Florida, ($46 million) and an Army Reserve 
Center at Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, ($24 million).
    Military Construction, Army National Guard (MCNG). The National 
Guard's request supports readiness by funding $160 million for nine 
readiness centers and $59 million for four maintenance facilities.
    Minor Construction/Planning & Design. All three components have 
funds planned for Unspecified Minor Construction and Planning and 
Design.
    Army Family Housing (AFH). The Army's request for $169.3 million in 
construction funding supports two new/replacement projects providing 
107 new homes in Vicenza, Italy; 64 new homes in Baumholder, Germany; 
and the necessary planning and design funds. The Army's request for 
$436.4 million in Family Housing Operations funding provides for Army 
Family Housing operations, maintenance and repair, utilities, and 
management of the privatized housing Residential Communities 
Initiative.
    Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). The Army's request for $67.7 
million includes $9.9 million for continuing caretaker and program 
management requirements at remaining BRAC installations closed or 
realigned under the five previous BRAC rounds (1988, 1991, 1993, 1995, 
and 2005) and $57.8 million for environmental cleanup requirements. The 
Army continues to work with Federal and State regulators to resolve 
complex environmental issues that exist on the Army's BRAC sites, and 
to allow each property to be conveyed and used for a beneficial non-
military purpose.
                operation and maintenance of facilities
    Facilities Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization (FSRM). The 
Army is requesting $6.1 billion in FSRM to address our backlog of 
facilities maintenance, provide sustainment to slow degradation of 
facilities, and demolish facilities ($80 million) that are no longer 
required. The Army is working with OSD to develop an asset management 
approach to optimizing sustainment, restoration, and modernization, 
demolition, and MILCON funding for facility requirements. The emphasis 
of the approach is to enhance the Army's building condition indices.
    Army Sustainment. The Army's fiscal Year 2023 Facilities 
Sustainment request for $4,008 million (Active $3,006 million, USAR 
$263 million, ARNG $739 million) will provide 85 percent of the 
Facility Sustainment Model requirements for all components.
    Restoration and Modernization (R&M), Active Army. The fiscal Year 
2023 request for the AC is $1,593 million, which will primarily fund 
restoration projects for quality of life facilities, including barracks 
and Child Development Centers, as well as readiness and power 
projection facilities including airfields and utilities at key 
installations.
    Restoration and Modernization (R&M), Army Reserve. The fiscal Year 
2023 request for the USAR is $95 million. This funding will primarily 
fund restoration projects for barracks, maintenance activities, and 
reserve centers.
    Restoration and Modernization (R&M), Army National Guard. The 
fiscal Year 2023 request for the ARNG is $304 million, which will 
primarily fund restoration projects for collective training barracks, 
reserve component readiness facilities, and recapitalization of 
training facilities.
                           beyond the budget
    Leveraging Partnerships. The Army has a long history of leveraging 
public and private partnerships to optimize use of other than 
appropriated funds to improve Army readiness, create efficiencies, and 
address underfunded requirements. These agreements come in a variety of 
forms, but generally lead to increased investment on Army 
installations, enhanced provision of services, and modernized 
infrastructure. Many of these partnerships have tremendously improved 
the quality of life for Soldiers and their families. Through the 
powerful language that Congress enacted in 10 USC 2679, the Army has 
signed more than 100 Intergovernmental Support Agreements (IGSAs) that 
save $28 million annually and have resulted in a $42 million cost 
avoidance. These partnerships create efficiencies, enhance quality of 
life, build resiliency, and develop deeper bonds with the communities. 
Examples include improving the emergency response time at Fort Detrick, 
MD; creating utility resiliency at Fort Carson, CO; supporting 
environmental stewardship at Fort Benning, GA through Auburn 
University, and creating life skills programs at Fort Drum, NY through 
the State University of New York. The Army sincerely appreciates 
Congressional support for these authorities and will continue to 
actively engage with our local communities to make use of this program.
                               conclusion
    Ready and resilient installations will ensure our soldiers are able 
to train properly and deploy globally to fight and win our Nation's 
wars. Modern installations enable a modern Army. Your continued support 
helps to ensure we retain the current force and recruit new soldiers by 
providing high-quality living conditions and quality of life services 
as key elements of the modern installation.
    Thank you for the opportunity to present this testimony and for 
your continued support of our soldiers, families, and civilians.

STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL WARREN BERRY, DEPUTY 
            CHIEF OF STAFF FOR LOGISTICS, ENGINEERING, 
            AND FORCE PROTECTION, UNITED STATES AIR 
            FORCE
    General Berry. Good afternoon, Chairman Heinrich, Raking 
Member Boozman, distinguished members of this subcommittee.
    I am honored to appear before you today to discuss the 
fiscal year 2023 Air Force Military Construction and Family 
Housing Programs.
    I would like to begin by thanking the subcommittee first, 
for your steadfast support and generous Military Construction 
funding contained within the fiscal year 2022 Consolidated 
Appropriations Act.
    I am also thankful for the fiscal year 2022 NDAA technical 
amendment, which enables us to award over a billion dollars of 
natural disaster recovery projects, at Tyndall Air Force Base 
in the next few months. I look forward to working with the 
subcommittee on our fiscal year 2023 Air Force Military 
Construction Budget Request, and tackling new challenges to 
improve this vital program.
    Our Nation faces an array of complex challenges in a 
rapidly evolving global environment. In addition to the threat 
imposed by pacing adversaries and other non-state actors, 
trans-boundary challenges such as climate change, also demand 
our attention.
    Our fiscal year 2023 Military Construction Budget Request 
supports the 2022 National Defense Strategy, by investing in 
our airmen and their families, accelerating the 
recapitalization of two legs of the nuclear enterprise, and 
supporting combatant command infrastructure requirements across 
the European and the Indo-Pacific theaters.
    Our fiscal year 2023 request is consistent with last year's 
request, and we have taken great strides in process 
improvements to create a more stable Military Construction 
Program that will yield an increase in the number of projects 
awarded in the year of appropriation, and better define cost 
estimates, reducing potential project delays through 
reprogramming requests.
    However, we continue to work through numerous external 
influences affecting this portfolio, be it from increased 
global market prices for commodities and labor, ongoing impacts 
from the COVID-19 pandemic, or from the effects of a changing 
climate.
    In the face of these challenges, the Air Force continues to 
balance risk and installation investment with the necessity to 
modernize and meet our most critical mission needs.
    Over time, though, this has resulted in atrophied 
facilities and infrastructure. In order to mitigate some of 
this risk, we optimized our use of Military Construction, as 
well as the Operations and Maintenance Funding Accounts. These 
two funding streams serve as the foundation of sustainable air 
and space force installations through a combination of well-
timed Military Construction projects and continued facility 
sustainment, restoration and modernization funding.
    We are able to recapitalize when required, and sustained 
through day-to-day maintenance and repair, in order to maximize 
the lifespan of those facilities.
    Lastly, while we remain focused on the health of our 
infrastructure, and we keep in mind that our installations are 
more than just where our airmen work, it is where many of them 
and their families call home.
    Our fiscal year 2023 request includes $678 million for 
efforts which directly support service members and their 
families, including housing construction improvements, 
operations and maintenance, and privatized housing oversight, 
and the continued construction, of our basic military training 
dormitories, at Joint Base San Antonio, Lackland.
    Infrastructure investment in our critical quality of life 
facilities plays a vital role in ensuring the well-being of our 
airmen, and is integral to mission success.
    Again, thank you for your continued support, and the 
opportunity to testify today, and we look forward to your 
questions.
    [The statement follows:]
             Prepared Statement of Lt. Gen. Warren D. Berry
                              introduction
    Chairman Heinrich, Ranking Member Boozman, and distinguished 
members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss 
the Department of the Air Force (DAF) Fiscal Year 2023 Military 
Construction Program.
    Installations are platforms to enable and project combat power in 
support of the 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS). Every mission 
starts and ends on an installation. We train and equip for joint 
operations, provide portions of the nuclear deterrent, project power, 
generate readiness, test new weapon systems to build and maintain an 
enduring advantage, and provide safe and healthy communities at our Air 
and Space Force installations. Our installations also serve as key 
nodes in a global network of operating locations enabling Joint Force 
mission success around the world. Additionally, for a significant 
number of our 700,000 Airmen, Guardians, and their families, Air and 
Space Force installations are ``home.'' Hence, the readiness, 
resiliency, and sustainability of installations are matters of 
strategic importance.
    Our Nation faces the nexus of complex challenges: the rise of great 
power competition with China and Russia; the increasing complexity of 
multi-domain threats; economic pressures; the competition for access to 
resources in the Global Commons; and the increasing rate of technology 
change. The FY23 President's Budget Request supports the NDS and lays 
out a plan to modernize our military capabilities. Finally, we continue 
to experience the effects of changing climate, exemplified by the 
growing strength and frequency of extreme weather events, wildfires and 
droughts. Unmitigated, these endanger not only our Airmen, Guardians, 
and the places where they live and work, but our weapon systems, 
infrastructure, and water and power networks.
    In the face of these challenges, the Department of the Air Force 
has made hard choices to prioritize decisions focused on integrated 
deterrence in an environment of shrinking advantage against aggressive 
competitors, operating in an evolving natural environment. The DAF 
Military Construction (MILCON) program prioritizes nuclear enterprise 
modernization and Combatant Command (CCMD) infrastructure support in 
the European and Pacific theaters. The centralized Facilities 
Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization (FSRM) portfolio continues 
to focus on infrastructure risk to mission, with prioritization based 
on ``probability of failure'' and ``consequence of failure'' 
methodology, ensuring timely maintenance and life-cycle repairs at our 
installations. We remain committed to sustaining the DAF's power 
projection and enabling platforms-our installations-and appreciate the 
continued partnership with Congress to ensure the Air and Space Forces 
are well-postured to compete, deter and win.
                             installations
    The Air Force continues to balance risk in installation investment 
in order to prioritize resources to our most mission-critical needs, 
ensuring the Air Force can continue to deliver combat capability to the 
Joint Force. The Air Force is performing installation investment 
through implementation of our Infrastructure Investment Strategy (I2S), 
increased senior leader oversight of the portfolio, and reforms within 
our MILCON program. First introduced in 2019, the I2S is the Air Force 
of the Air Force's long-term strategy to cost-effectively modernize and 
restore infrastructure readiness, improve the resiliency of mission-
critical nodes, and drive innovation in installation management 
practices.
                      tackling the climate crisis
    Last fall, the Secretary of Defense released the DOD Climate 
Adaptation Plan and DOD Climate Risk Analysis, emphasizing climate as a 
national security priority. Over the past several years, we have seen 
first-hand the impacts climate and severe weather can have on our 
installations and operations. Increasing temperatures, changing 
precipitation patterns, and more extreme and unpredictable weather 
conditions pose new risks to Air Force operations, readiness, 
installations, and facilities. The effects of climate change on the Air 
Force are accelerating; the time for action is now. As the largest fuel 
consumer in the DOD, the Air Force is not only addressing the need for 
climate adaptation to improve our resilience, but introducing climate 
mitigation efforts to optimize fuel consumption and reduce our 
logistics burden, while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas 
emissions. Additionally, the Air Force is developing a comprehensive 
Climate Action Plan aligned with our National security imperatives that 
lays out our climate priorities and actionable goals to address the 
complex threat of climate change.
    In recent years, Congress has included numerous provisions in 
legislation to enhance installation resilience efforts across the 
Department of Defense. The Air Force, in conjunction with Additionally, 
as of the end of 2021, we completed 42 Installation Energy Plans at our 
critical and high-energy use installations to identify risks and track 
and adjust requirements to advance energy and water resilience goals.
    The Air Force is integrating resilience considerations into MILCON 
and other construction projects as well. We assess all projects to 
determine if the planned facility could be impacted by current or 
future mean sea level fluctuations or if it is located in a 100-year 
floodplain for non- critical facilities and a 500-year flood plain for 
critical facilities. We implement resilience actions when required by 
the mission or when feasible and cost-effective. The Air Force drives 
changes to the Unified Facilities Criteria (UFCs) and then applies 
those revised building codes to all MILCON projects. Many of these UFCs 
have been updated to specifically incorporate resilience 
considerations, such as sea level rise scenario planning and updated 
structural engineering criteria to address wind, seismic, and flood 
threats.
    To help address these challenges, the Air Force is leveraging data 
and analytics to make climate-informed decisions based on lessons 
learned from previous storm-related events. Climate considerations will 
continue to be incorporated into our guidance, plans, and policies to 
ensure our Air Force investments in facilities, infrastructure, and 
installation energy promote resilience to more frequent and severe 
weather events, while maximizing our readiness with a reduced energy 
footprint.
                         special interest items
                   natural disaster recovery efforts
    Through the Natural Disaster Recovery program, the Air Force will 
rebuild Tyndall AFB, FL, and Offutt AFB, NE, in a more efficient and 
resilient manner. We are designing and constructing facilities using 
the latest UFCs.
    We used a minimum design wind speed of 165 miles per hour for all 
new mission-critical facilities, exceeding the highest wind speed 
captured during Hurricane Michael, and incorporated best practices from 
the Florida Building Code's High Velocity Hurricane Zone for Miami-
Dade, Broward, and coastal Palm Beach Counties. Facilities are also 
being designed 14 to 19 feet above today's mean sea level, which 
incorporates a 7-foot projected sea level rise scenario through the 
year 2100.
    Additionally, we emphasized coastal resilience in the plan for 
Tyndall AFB. This partnered approach includes cost-shared investments, 
which combine with Air Force investments to attenuate storm energy 
through natural infrastructure before it reaches built infrastructure. 
Key partners such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, 
Fish and Wildlife Service, Bay County, the Florida Department of 
Environmental Protection, and the University of Florida are working 
together as part of OSD's Readiness and Environmental Protection 
Integration Program.
    At Offutt AFB, we are consolidating facilities to higher ground-out 
of the 100-year floodplain.
                         taking care of people
    In early 2020, the Air Force established a cross-functional Child 
Care Capacity Initiative Working Group to address unmet child care 
needs. This team prioritized child development and school age care 
facility projects based on unmet child care demand, staffing, and 
building conditions. We issued a Strategic Enterprise Executive 
Decision memo directing installations to initiate planning actions for 
14 projects identified on the prioritized list. The Air Force is using 
the $11 million in MILCON Planning and Design (P&D) funds provided in 
FY20 to initiate designs and posture these projects for future 
execution. Five of our top priority child development centers (CDCs)-
Sheppard AFB, TX; Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA)-Lackland, TX; JBSA-Fort 
Sam Houston, TX; Wright-Patterson AFB, OH; and Royal Air Force (RAF) 
Lakenheath, in the United Kingdom-were authorized in the FY22 NDAA and 
funded within the FY22 Consolidated Appropriations Act. Construction of 
a new CDC at Tyndall AFB is scheduled to be complete by December 2022, 
and construction of a new CDC at Joint Base Andrews, MD, is expected to 
be ready to award in the summer of 2022. Because CDCs have not 
historically competed well against other mission-related priorities in 
the MILCON program, we have turned to FSRM resources to address 
childcare facility concerns while we posture MILCON projects for future 
execution. In FY22, we have prioritized 6 CDC FSRM projects, valued at 
$19.7 million.
    The Air Force is also committed to ensuring unaccompanied service 
members are provided quality housing on our dormitory campuses. The Air 
Force has underscored the roles and responsibilities of Commanders in 
protecting the health and safety of unaccompanied Airmen. Commanders 
enforce inspection criteria to identify and report conditions requiring 
immediate and future maintenance, as well as adequately resource 
maintenance and repair programs to effectively address requirements. 
Funded from the Air Force FSRM account, the investment strategy for 
dormitories focuses on sustainment, restoration and modernization of 
these facilities in their existing configurations. This enables the Air 
Force to focus MILCON funds on modern, formal training facilities for 
newly recruited Airmen, such as the Airman Training Center at JBSA-
Lackland.
                     fy23 air force milcon program
    In FY23, the Air Force MILCON request is $2.05 billion. This 
request will support the Air Force's commitment to fulfilling National 
Defense Strategy (NDS) requirements, posturing for the future high-end 
fight, and taking care of our Airmen by providing functional 
operational work spaces. The program supports Combatant Commanders with 
a focus on the Pacific and European theaters and modernizing the 
nuclear enterprise. Our request also focused on P&D to reinforce the 
Air Force's MILCON program stability and consistency. Additionally, the 
MILCON program continues efforts to bed down new weapons systems and 
seeks to recapitalize facilities that have outlived their useable life 
or no longer meet mission requirements.
                   combatant commander infrastructure
    The FY23 MILCON program prioritizes Combatant Commander 
requirements with a particular emphasis on the Indo-Pacific and 
European theaters. Support to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command will enhance 
the United States defensive posture in the region, reassure allies and 
partners, and increase readiness capabilities. The request included 
$451 million for projects in Alaska, Japan, and the Northern Mariana 
Islands to recapitalize key facilities, disperse resources, and 
construct operational and maintenance facilities, as well as provides 
Pacific-focused P&D. The request also included construction of fuel 
storage and aircraft parking apron on Tinian, aircraft operations and 
maintenance facilities in Japan, and a runway extension to increase 
airfield capacity in Alaska.
    The Air Force remains committed to European Defense Initiative 
(EDI) efforts to reassure North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 
allies and other European partners of United States commitment to 
collective security and territorial integrity. In FY23, the Air Force 
requested $244.9 million for EDI to include support for the 
prepositioning of equipment in Italy, Iceland, Spain, and Hungary, as 
well as base perimeter security in Norway. These projects will further 
improve deterrence efforts in the theater and enable joint and 
coalition forces to quickly respond to aggressive regional actors. The 
Air Force request also included support to Combatant Commands within 
the United States to include a continued focus on Weapons Generation 
Facilities directly supporting U.S. Strategic Command; and fuel and 
maintenance facilities supporting U.S. Central Command.
                         new mission bed downs
    The FY23 budget request also supported the bed down of new weapons 
systems and missions, with a heavy focus on modernizing the nuclear 
enterprise. The request included two projects at Ellsworth AFB, SD, to 
bed down the first B-21 Raiders. It also included three projects at 
F.E. Warren AFB, WY; two projects at Hill AFB, UT; and one project at 
Vandenberg Space Force Base (SFB), CA, to support transition from the 
Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile weapon system to the 
Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD). The NDS directs the Department 
of Defense to build a force that is lethal, resilient, sustainable, 
survivable, agile, and responsive through modernization of key 
capabilities, the first of which are nuclear forces. Once on-line, 
these weapons systems will ensure the Air Force can effectively supply 
two-thirds of the Nation's nuclear triad well into the future.
    The Air Force appreciates the legislative authorities which posture 
the GBSD program for success. The fiscal year 2021 NDAA provided 
significant flexibility for the Launch Facility/Launch Center 
conversion under MILCON authorization, authorized $15 million of MILCON 
P&D for GBSD, enabled all GBSD construction to be carried out under 
direction and supervision by the Secretary of the Air Force, and 
allowed a single prime contractor to plan, design, and construct all 
GBSD projects. The Air Force will continue to inform Congress on the 
Air Force's progress during design, construction, and commissioning of 
GBSD facilities.
    The FY23 President's Budget did not include funding requests for 
the F-35A bed down program. After the generous FY22 F-35A bed down 
support for facilities at RAF Lakenheath and Luke AFB, AZ, funding 
requests will resume in future years to complete the full bed down 
program. Lastly, the budget request included a three-bay depot 
maintenance hangar at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma to directly support reliable 
and responsive infrastructure for the KC-46A weapons system depot 
maintenance.
                   existing mission recapitalization
    The FY23 request also sought $218.3 million to recapitalize 
facilities that surpassed their useable life or no longer met mission 
requirements. This request included additional funding for our Basic 
Military Trainee Recruit Dormitory modernization, to include an 
increment for Dormitory 7 at JBSA-Lackland. Other recapitalization 
projects included a supplement to the MIT- LL West Lab CSL/MIF at 
Hanscom AFB, MA, and a RAPCON facility at Shaw AFB, SC which is a 
resilience project designed with previously appropriated resilience 
funds.
                          planning and design
    P&D remains a central focus of the Air Force MILCON program to 
reinforce program stability and consistency. Sufficient P&D enables 
projects to progress rapidly through design and meet maturity criteria 
for admissibility into the program, provides more accurate cost 
estimates, and maximizes opportunity to award projects in the year of 
appropriation. Without sufficient P&D, the Air Force must award designs 
by design phase, which adds risk associated with costs and timely 
delivery of design. With the FY23 P&D request of $136 million, the Air 
Force intends to fully fund designs for our planned FY24 and FY25 
projects, as well as initiate design for FY26 projects. The outcome of 
our 2 year budget lock policy is a stable MILCON program allowing us to 
efficiently use P&D for future projects.
      facility sustainment, restoration, and modernization (fsrm)
    We view the FSRM and MILCON programs as interdependent; together, 
these two funding streams serve as the foundation of sustainable Air 
Force installations. FSRM provides a non- MILCON pathway to repair 
facilities and infrastructure, maximizing their lifespan. Our I2S drove 
changes in how we execute the FSRM program by prioritizing projects 
based on mission risk and timing investments at the optimal point in 
the asset lifecycle. The centralized FSRM scoring model targets 
investments at an asset's ``sweet spot'' in its life cycle rather than 
at end-of-life failure, which is significantly more expensive. FSRM 
funding distributed directly to installations (considered decentralized 
FSRM), empowers Commanders to make the right local investment 
decisions, including day-to-day maintenance and smaller scale repair 
and sustainment projects, based on mission requirements and I2S 
guidance.
    The Air Force will continue to utilize I2S principles to restore 
the health of our installations by refining business processes and 
implementing private sector best practices. These include implementing 
cost management strategies specific to different spending categories, 
leveraging data to improve the timing of sustainment and 
recapitalization actions, and establishing standards of services and 
equipment to achieve economies of scale. In order to maximize the near-
term impact of current funding levels, the Air Force will also continue 
to assess mission thread vulnerabilities and prioritize infrastructure 
repair requirements which directly affect an installation's primary 
mission.
            housing construction, operation and maintenance
    The Air Force prioritizes providing safe and healthy homes to our 
families. The Air Force Housing program provides for housing 
construction, P&D, and operations and maintenance. The military 
construction funding enables planning studies and design for future 
construction projects and supporting the restructures of privatized 
housing projects. The military family operations and maintenance 
program supports the day-to-day operations and administration of our 
military and privatized family housing, correcting health and safety 
deficiencies, and provides for the alterations and major repair 
projects to sustain and modernize the housing inventory.
    The high cost of construction continues to present challenges to 
improvements of Air Force-owned family housing. The increased cost of 
construction will require solutions within the Air Force family housing 
construction program to achieve full scope on projects. The Air Force 
continues to focus investment in the Air Force housing inventory to 
provide adequate housing for all service members and their families.
    Our military family housing operation and maintenance enables us to 
sustain, improve, and modernize our Government-owned inventory of 
approximately 15,200 family housing units and provide enhanced 
oversight of over 52,000 privatized homes. Combined, the family housing 
operations and maintenance and construction programs will ensure 
continued support for the housing needs of Airmen, Guardians, their 
families, and our Army, Navy, and Marine Corps teammates housed in 
government-owned and privatized inventory.
                           privatized housing
    The Air Force is committed to ensuring that Military Housing 
Privatization Initiative (MHPI) projects provide safe, quality, well-
maintained housing where military members and their families will want 
and choose to live. We remain focused on improving our privatized 
housing portfolio and addressing the remaining elements of the MHPI 
reforms set out in the fiscal Year 2020, fiscal year 2021 and fiscal 
year 2022 National Defense Authorizations Acts (NDAA). The Air Force 
has made significant progress implementing reforms to enhance our 
oversight of privatized housing and hold MHPI companies accountable for 
delivering quality housing that provides a positive living experience 
for tenants. An important effort is the DOD MHPI Tenant Bill of Rights. 
On August 1, 2021, DOD issued a revised and updated MHPI Tenant Bill of 
Rights that includes all 18 rights set out in 10 U.S.C. 2890. Applying 
many of these rights at existing MHPI housing projects requires 
voluntary agreement by the private companies who own, operate, and 
maintain the projects. Most Air Force companies have agreed to 
implement all 18 rights at their existing projects. With few 
exceptions, all rights are fully available at all installations with 
Air Force MHPI housing.
    The Air Force has improved oversight by adding 218 government 
positions across the privatized housing program, increasing 
inspections, providing additional training to housing personnel and 
revamping housing governance placing more structure to housing policy 
and management. Resident Councils have been established at Air Force 
sites to provide two-way communication between the residents and 
installation and project owner leadership. Additionally, the feedback 
from tenant satisfaction surveys (work order and annual) are used to 
develop action plans for improving the resident experience. The Air 
Force has also established Resident Advocates at Air Force sites to 
engage with residents, installation leadership and MHPI company and its 
property management representative to help resolve any disputes at the 
lowest level and improve communications with all stakeholders. In 
addition, the Air Force established a toll free housing call center 
where tenants have 24-hour access to elevate concerns.
    The Air Force has expanded its metrics for assessing the health of 
the privatized housing portfolio, particularly with regards to resident 
satisfaction, maintenance quality and responsiveness, and property 
management operations. Many of these business health metrics are now 
also included in the new Performance Incentive Fee (PIF) agreements Air 
Force has negotiated with its largest private partners giving them a 
financial incentive to meet or exceed the standards established for our 
MHPI program.
    Timeliness and thoroughness of repairs continues to be a challenge, 
compounded by the National labor shortage and complications posed by 
COVID; however, indications are that maintenance quality is holding 
steady or improving, as evidenced by work order survey data and 
Military Housing Office change of occupancy maintenance inspections. 
The Air Force has implemented a Portfolio Assessment Program that 
places increased emphasis on maintenance performance and change of 
occupancy maintenance, driving engagement at all levels with the 
project owners to improve performance.
    The Air Force continues to remain focused on improved oversight, 
long-term project health, and sustainment of the housing inventory to 
provide military families access to safe, quality, affordable, and 
well-maintained housing communities where they choose to live. Some 
privatized housing projects will require financial restructuring to 
continue to remain financially stable and market comparable. The 
restructure goals are to fully fund operational expenses, debt 
servicing, and sustainment of the homes for the life of the lease and 
to fund reinvestment needs during the mid-term reinvestment period. The 
Air Force included $230 million in the FY23 request to complete the 
required Air Force MHPI restructures at select locations.
                  base realignment and closure (brac)
    The FY23 request includes $107 million for the BRAC cleanup program 
for environmental restoration and property transfer activities at 34 
former Air Force installations closed through prior BRAC initiatives. 
Our BRAC cleanup program focuses on protecting human health and the 
environment, projects that transfer acreage and achieve beneficial 
reuse of property, and investigations and response actions associated 
with PFAS. Through the BRAC process the Air Force has closed 40 
installations and sites and transferred more than 98 percent of the 
property back to communities for beneficial use, producing $2.9 billion 
in annual savings. Property transfer is complete for 35 former 
installations, and we expect to complete transfer of the remaining 
1,858 acres at five former installations by 2027. The Air Force greatly 
appreciates Congressional support for our efforts to address PFAS 
contamination and continue the cleanup and transfer of BRAC properties.
                       united states space force
    In accordance with Department of Defense direction that the Space 
Force be established as a lean, agile, mission-focused military 
Service, the Space Force will rely on the Air Force for infrastructure, 
logistics, security, medical services, and a host of other support 
functions at their bases. Formal agreements and implementation plans 
are in place to codify all stakeholder roles and responsibilities. In 
FY22, the Air Force transferred FSRM, unaccompanied housing, and 
facilities operations funds to the Space Force for planning, 
programming, budgeting, and execution.
    In FY23, the Department will allot MILCON funding based on Space 
Force's portion of the total plant replacement value rather than 
transferring MILCON funds. This approach was chosen to provide 
flexibility to resolve any resource challenges supporting Space Force 
requirements. The Space Force also developed a separate governance 
process for their infrastructure investments, leveraging current DAF 
processes, to ensure strategic alignment of investments to Space Force 
priorities.
    Space Force's FY23 MILCON program priorities support US SPACE 
COMMAND through the beddown of a new weapon system, the Long Range 
Discrimination Radar (LRDR). An eighty-four person dormitory at Clear 
Space Force Station, Alaska, eliminates a dormitory deficit and 
provides bed spaces needed to accommodate LRDR support personnel.
    Additionally, the FY23 MILCON program is focused on P&D to prepare 
future requirements for execution and reinforce program stability, as 
well as execute one Unspecified Minor Military Construction project at 
Vandenberg Space Force Base to stabilize a road that provides sole 
access to a radar site and is prone to landslides. Space Force's FY23 
Facility Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization priorities include 
reducing risk to mission and force by addressing energy redundancy and 
resilience, physical security, and quality of life requirements.
                               conclusion
    The Department of the Air Force supports the 2022 National Defense 
Strategy and laid out a plan to defend the homeland, deter pacing 
threats, and modernize our military capabilities while taking care of 
our Airmen, Guardians, and families. The I2S continues to guide MILCON 
and FSRM budget decisions and business practices as we endeavor to 
deliver ready, resilient installations as cost effectively as possible.
    The MILCON program prioritizes nuclear enterprise modernization and 
supports Combatant Commanders, with particular focus on the European 
and Pacific theaters. The housing program provides the resources needed 
to sustain and improve the DAF's inventory of government-owned homes, 
and oversight of privatized housing project owners.
    The Department of the Air Force remains committed to working 
through challenges affecting this portfolio and delivering effective, 
efficient installation engineering services. DAF energy, installation, 
and environment priorities ensure that our Airmen, Guardians, weapon 
systems, and installations continue to be ready to defend American 
interests now and in the future. Thank you for the opportunity to 
discuss the Department's FY23 MILCON program. We appreciate Congress' 
continued support for our enterprise and look forward to working with 
you on our FY23 priorities.

STATEMENT OF MR. BRUCE HOLLYWOOD, ASSOCIATE CHIEF 
            OPERATIONS OFFICER, UNITED STATES SPACE 
            FORCE
    Mr. Hollywood. Good afternoon, Chairman Heinrich, Ranking 
Member Boozman, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. 
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss Space Force 
Installations, and our Military Construction Program.
    The capabilities and benefits provided in and through space 
are vital to our way of life and a critical prerequisite to 
effective military operations across all other domains. Over 
the past two decades the space domain has shifted from a benign 
environment to one that is contested where our adversaries are 
increasingly active and disruptive.
    We are our Nation's newest Military Service, purpose built 
to organize, train, and equip Space Forces, to protect 
America's interest in the space domain, and provide critical 
capabilities to the Joint Force in accordance with the 2022 
National Defense Strategy.
    Our installation investments through Military Construction 
and Operations and Maintenance funding are especially vital to 
the Space Force mission, because the bulk of our forces are 
employed in place, and our installations serve as our power 
projection platforms.
    Our Space Force bases and stations also serve as home to 
many of our Guardian, supporting airmen, and their families. We 
work ceaselessly to provide them a comfortable and safe place 
to live.
    As one of two services within the Department of the Air 
Force, and in line with the Department's guiding principle of 
``One team, one fight'' we will remain partnered with the Air 
Force as it provides foundational installation support to the 
Space Force.
    To remain a lean and mission-focused Service, as directed 
by Congress, and in accordance with our Chief of Space 
Operations Planning Guidance, the Space Force will continue to 
rely on the Air Force, for infrastructure, logistics, security, 
medical services, and a host of other support functions at our 
bases.
    Formal agreements and implementation plans are in place to 
codify stakeholder roles and responsibilities. We plan 
resilience into our mission operations and protect the 
guardians, airmen and families stationed in locations at risk 
from severe weather.
    Additionally, we are active partners in the Department's 
facility, and infrastructure readiness initiatives, and 
participate in the energy and water resilience conversations 
being discussed across the Department.
    This past year, the Space Force developed an independent 
process for prioritizing requirements through a deliberate, 
collaborative planning effort, that accounts for our 
operational, and community priorities. We are focused on 
infrastructure improvements in areas to reduce risk to mission 
while, simultaneously, reducing risk to the Force by improving 
the quality of life for our Guardians, supporting Airmen, and 
their families.
    Our installation investments, through the Military 
Construction Program, and our operations and maintenance 
accounts, and our collaborative relationships across the 
Department of the Air Force, especially with Lieutenant General 
Berry's office, are critical to performing our mission, and to 
the well-being of our guardians, supporting airmen and their 
families.
    Thank you for your time and continued support. I am truly 
honored for the opportunity to testify today, and I look 
forward to our dialogue.
    Senator Heinrich. Thank you, Mr. Hollywood.
    For General Evans, and General Berry; in our fiscal year 
2022 Bill, we included 125 million for design and both minor 
and major construction of laboratory infrastructure, to 
modernize our Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation 
Base, this funding helped buy down unfunded requirements at 
installations across the country, including at White Sands 
Missile Range, still we know there to be a significant need for 
such funding. As it pertains to Military Construction, how are 
you identifying and prioritizing laboratory infrastructure?
    General Evans. Sir, thank you for the question. 
Laboratories, as you articulated, are very important. We have 
two laboratories in the Walter Reed, Dietrich area that DHA 
will fund for critical medical research. We have got two 
laboratories on the UPL for Vicksburg and Redstone, and then we 
have another five in the FY DP. So a total of I think eight 
there, sir. So this is vitally important to us.
    Senator Heinrich. General Berry.
    General Berry. So Mr. Chairman, the fiscal year 2022, 
Section 129, the Air Force got about 25 million of the 125 
million that was appropriated. From that 25 million we have in 
place, we are still working the Spend Plan, but it looks like 
we will be able to get to about seven test projects that we 
will do planning and design across the Air Force, to get after 
some critical capabilities for the test and evaluation 
enterprise.
    I think if you look across our FYDP as well, you will see 
that, for example, just in hypersonic test infrastructure 
across the fiscal year 2023 FYDP, we will put about $336 
million into that test infrastructure. Not all facilities, 
obviously there are other things that the test infrastructure 
needs, but that is a huge investment for us, and recognizing 
the importance of that mission set.
    Senator Heinrich. For General Evans. The Army Climate 
Strategy released earlier this year, lays out a pretty 
ambitious objective of installing a microgrid on every 
installation by 2035, indeed, most of the ERCIP funding for the 
Army over the past few years, has focused on microgrids.
    How are you determining the order in which installations 
are prioritized, and what are some of the most significant 
challenges that you anticipate facing in trying to get to that 
objective?
    General Evans. Sir, so right now the installations, through 
their internal energy and water plans, do the assessment and 
determine the criticality or the need for the microgrids. We 
did five last year. We are scheduled to do 12 ERCIP programs 
this year, 11 of which are microgrids, and then another 5 next 
year.
    So we are absolutely invested in this technology, as was 
mentioned before, it is good for energy conservation. We think 
it has applicability to the electrification, as we pursue 
electrification of the vehicle fleet. So, sir, we are all in.
    Senator Heinrich. It is my understanding that there is 
design funding included in the ERCIP request this year for a 
microgrid at White Sands Missile Range. Is that something you 
can confirm?
    General Evans. Yes, sir. We do have approximately $29 
million for planning design for a microgrid in White Sands 
Missile Range.
    Senator Heinrich. Excellent. Mr. Hollywood, last year I 
included designed funding, I included design funding, the Space 
Rapid Capabilities Office, at Kirtland Air Force Base, and I am 
pleased that full funding for the construction project has been 
identified in the FYDP, and hope design is able to get underway 
soon.
    I understand that the Space Force now has dedicated 
obligation authority within the Air Force top line. As the 
Space Force carves out its own Military Construction program 
could you discuss how you are identifying developing and 
prioritizing those projects within that program?
    Mr. Hollywood. Thank you for that question, sir. And thank 
you very much for the funding for the Space RCO. That is going 
to be an important piece of our technology and building going 
forward. As we work within the Department of the Air Force, 
MILCON, it is a single-funding stream, and that that gives the 
secretary flexibility to perhaps give us more on those times 
when we need a little bit more, and to balance it across.
    But, sir, the way that we prioritize is by trying to reduce 
the risk to mission, and effectiveness of the mission by 
looking at resilience, readiness, and in our training, and 
infrastructure, and then by reducing the risk to our people by 
working on our quality of life initiatives.
    Senator Heinrich. Ranking Member Boozman.
    Senator Boozman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    I asked this question to the first panel, and I would 
really like to get your input also, because it is also very 
important. We are really just in a unique time right now. How 
are economic factors, such as extreme market volatility, and 
record inflation impacting your fiscal year 2023 Budget 
Request, and project execution, what is your plan to address 
the cost increases? And very, very importantly, you know, what 
can we do to help you?
    General Evans. Sir, thank you for the question. We have 
experienced over the last year about a 24 percent increase for 
MILCON projects, which is really attributed to labor, the 
supply line, and materials. Now, we are experiencing with the 6 
percent increase in fuel, of approximately 30 percent. We work 
closely with the Corps of Engineers, what this has done is we 
are no longer having the contractors hold their bids before 
they--we would have them hold their bids for about 6 months 
until we got the authorized threshold reprogramming.
    That is no longer the case. So what you will see in the 
2023 UPL is about 22 cost to completes. That is about half of 
the 46 projects, and that is a result of the cost increases. We 
believe, like the Navy, that we can work with your staff and 
OSD, to probably get the authorized threshold reprogramming 
raised, and probably try to reduce that time to hold the 
contractors in place to get the bid on the MILCON.
    Senator Boozman. Mm-hmm. Very good.
    General Berry. Senator, thanks for the question. I think my 
answer will mimic a lot of what my Navy and Army counterparts 
have said, right. So certainly continuing resolutions are not 
helpful for us because it delays our ability to advertise an 
award, and in construction business time is money, and that 
does tend to lead us to higher bids than what we would have 
originally anticipated.
    Senator Boozman. That is definitely noted. Yes.
    General Berry. Yes, sir. Clearly, as I mentioned in my 
opening comments, we are doing a lot more planning and design, 
being much more rigorous in our process for planning and 
design, to get projects to 35 percent so that they are more 
mature, so when we come to you for funding we have a higher 
confidence level that what we are going to build will cost what 
we think it will cost. But without a doubt there are 
inflationary pressures on us today that we haven't seen before.
    And while we have taken a large portion of our professional 
engineers, about 1,200 so far, and put them through some cost 
estimating courses, and improve their capabilities there to do 
cost estimating, sometimes you can't predict all of those 
inflationary pressures. And they are real, steel is up 110 
percent, aluminum is up about 34 percent, and it just comes 
to--it comes to roost, right, when the contractors give their 
bids, or cost to complete, as General Evans said.
    I will echo what Admiral Williamson said as well. I think 
it may be time to look at the reprogramming thresholds. I think 
the last time we did a reprogramming threshold change was in 
1982, for reference, I was a high school senior, I am not that 
anymore. And I think gas was a $1.30 a gallon.
    So it is not hard to exceed a $2 million threshold in 
today's environment given the complexity, and then add to it 
the increasing pressures from inflation, it tends to eat into 
those project costs pretty quickly. So certainly, I think the 
Air Force would welcome a conversation about looking at those 
reprogramming thresholds again. Thank you.
    Senator Boozman. Very good.
    Mr. Hollywood. Sir, there is really not a whole lot to add 
to what has been said. We benefit from all the hard work the 
Air Force has done in recent years on refining their bidding 
process to get that as right as it can be before they even 
begin construction, but any help with multi-year funding, with 
incremental funding, and with increasing the thresholds, would 
be extremely helpful.
    Even as small as we are, we have got projects that have 
been impacted by having to come back and be delayed during a 
reprogramming action.
    Senator Boozman. Very good. Thank you.
    Lieutenant General Evans, over the last few years there 
have been multiple issues with privatized housing, I am really 
following up on Senator Tester's remarks earlier. You and I 
have had some great discussions about this. I know that nobody 
cares more about this than you do, taking care of the men and 
women that are serving.
    But again, privatized housings and barracks, in the last 
few weeks the Army has had some tough, pointed questions at 
other hearings on their quality of life investments or lack 
thereof. Can you share the Army's investment strategy, and what 
you are doing to improve housing for soldiers?
    General Evans. Yes, sir. Thank you, for the question. So we 
talk about housing, we talk about both privatized housing Army-
owned housing, and then barracks, and that is the number one 
priority under the Quality of Life Initiative for the Army. We 
have, currently, for barracks we have got a ten-year MILCON R&M 
plan that will address over 1,600 barracks, and to date, in 
2021 of 2022, that will be about $10.3 billion, we are about 
$2.3 billion into that now.
    We have got two barracks in the program for 2023, along 
with 78 R&M projects, because we believe the R&M sustainment is 
just as important as the military construction.
    For the privatized housing, we continue to hold ourselves 
accountable, as well as the private partners for performance. 
We have implemented the 18 Bill of Rights across the 44 
installations that have privatized housing. Right now we have a 
couple partners that have invested about $3 billion to build 
new homes. That work has started for lend-lease in places like 
Fort Hood, about 586 homes; in places like Fort Campbell.
    For Army-owned housing, which the preponderance about 93 
percent of that is overseas, we are investing about $1.5 
billion in that, and in much needed places like the Vicenza 
housing area. And so to add to that, I would like to throw in, 
also the child care, because that is an important facility 
investment, or a capacity issue that we have in the Army. And 
we thank the committee for their support for three of the 
child-care facilities in 2021 that are in high wait areas, or 
high demand areas, like Alaska, and too in Hawaii.
    And then last year on a UPL you gave us one for 
Leavenworth, and one for Fort Knox, and then we have seven more 
in the program. So we are very appreciative of the support of 
the committee, and we think we are on a good path to create 
increased capacity with childcare, along with incentivizing 
staff, incentivizing family childcare homes, by providing 
$1,000 for people getting that.
    The Fee Assistance Program, that monthly will raise the fee 
assistance for folks who take advantage of that, from 1,500 to 
1,700. And so we are ecstatic about where we are going with 
increasing the capacity for all of those.
    Senator Boozman. Good. And that is a good story.
    Senator Murkowski.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And General Evans, I was glad to hear your response to 
Senator Boozman's question here. Obviously housing is a key 
priority, but we also need to focus on childcare, and what we 
are doing to provide for our families there. The number one 
item listed on the Army's unfunded priorities list is a new 
multi-purpose field house, physical fitness facility.
    I think we recognize, maybe it is not so apparent in a 
place like Arkansas where your weather is more decent most 
times of the year and we require a level of readiness, and you 
can't just be out jogging when it is 40-below, and getting the 
fitness training that you need without appropriate facilities. 
And so I appreciate the focus and the attention that has been 
made to this field house or this fitness facility.
    We are all very, very targeted on what we are seeing, with 
alarming rates of suicide, and we recognize that when we 
provide for certain quality of life initiatives, whether it is 
childcare, whether it is fitness centers, these are just not 
nice to haves, this is part of what our soldiers need.
    I had an opportunity at a recent SACD hearing, to hear from 
the secretary as well as the chief of staff of the Army on the 
importance of this particular facility up north. And I asked 
the question about why this fitness facility is needed, why it 
is number one on the unfunded priority list. And also I asked 
about the price tag, because we sit here on the Appropriations 
Committee, and it is $99 million. And that figure will get the 
attention of folks. And I would like you to, for the record, 
provide to this committee the reason why it is your number one 
unfunded priority?
    And to the issue of cost, we recognize that it is just more 
expensive to build up north. But I don't want people to think 
that this is some gold-plated Taj Mahal, what we are doing is 
we are building a necessary facility. But I would like you to 
speak to that, if you would?
    General Evans. Yes, ma'am. Thank you for the question. 
First of all, I had the opportunity to travel to Alaska during 
the winter months with the vice chief of staff of the Army.
    Senator Murkowski. It was kind of dark.
    General Evans. Yes, ma'am. It is kind of dark there for a 
longer period of time, and it is kind of dark here, and the 
extreme weather conditions do not lend themselves to soldiers 
performing physical exercise outside. The physical fitness 
center gets directly to soldier resiliency, as well as fitness, 
and the ability to be ready, combat ready, physical ready, 
because you can perform the Army combat physical fitness test 
indoors.
    The price tag, ma'am, in the area cost factor is much 
higher there in Alaska because only from early spring to early 
fall when that is the only time that you can really conduct 
construction.
    We are in a planning and design phase now, and we 
anticipate construction in early 2024 in completion, and we are 
just ecstatic about this. This is the chief of staff's number 
one priority, is that physical fitness center, because it gets 
directly to our number one priority of people, and supporting 
soldiers. And you mentioned the issues we have had up there, 
and we think this is something that gets right at that, in 
terms of resiliency and fitness for the soldiers.
    Senator Murkowski. Appreciate that, and know that we are 
looking forward to seeing that completion.
    Let me turn to you, Lieutenant General Berry. With Eielson 
Air Force Base now home to 54F-35s, where we are looking at 
areas within the MILCON budget request, there is an absence, in 
my view, when it comes to increased storage and coverings to 
protect them from these winter climates.
    You not only can't--your soldiers can't train out there--it 
is tough on those airplanes, it is tough on the aircraft. We 
are going to get four additional KC-135s in addition to the F-
35s, but what I am hearing is that we just don't have enough 
hangars and storage to safely accommodate this influx of 
aircraft and equipment.
    I am told that the Air Force often uses off-base civilian 
storage to rent space for large exercises when we have things 
like Arctic Edge, but it is becoming more challenging, I guess 
it is less reliable as the civilian companies are increasingly 
utilizing their own space.
    So I don't know if you can speak to whether or not the Air 
Force currently has a plan to address this shortfall through 
future military construction projects; if you are looking at 
the issue of hangar and storage space in the Arctic and what 
you can share here.
    General Berry. Thank you, Senator. I will say, in the 2017 
Appropriations we had $161 million to build two 16-bay weather 
shelter facilities for the F-35s, those are in place. There are 
another 18 parking locations indoors for F-35, and when 
necessary then we can clear out some more space to make room 
for another 4, which handles all of 54 of the F-35s.
    So from what we see, we don't see a shortfall of storage 
locations for housing F-35s indoor. If you are hearing 
something different, we will probably need to go reconcile 
that, and we will go back up to the folks at Eielson to make 
sure we have the same site picture. But that is how we view the 
situation up there at Eielson.
    And we also had, in fiscal year 2020, a project to build 
storage facilities for the support equipment that goes for the 
F-35s as well, so that project is underway to provide some 
indoor storage for those support equipment--requirements for 
the F-35.
    The KC-135, we will have to take a closer look and see what 
that requirement will be. Those airplanes won't start arriving 
right now until fiscal year 2023, so we will go back to Eielson 
and make sure that we have that ground covered as well.
    And then as far as Arctic Edge, I will have to get back to 
you on that one. I had not heard that as a concern for off-base 
storage for that particular exercise. But we will go back up 
and make sure that that is--square in that corner as well.
    Senator Murkowski. I appreciate that. And particularly as 
it relates to the KC-135s there, and just anticipating their 
arrival. But thank you for that.
    Mr. Chairman, I am out of time, but I do want to just note 
to Mr. Hollywood, my appreciation that this year's budget 
request does include this dormitory to house 84 Guardians at 
Clear Space Force Station. I think it was recognized in the 
budget that this place, Clear, is one of the most strategically 
important installations in our country. We know that, but we 
also have to have a place to house our Guardians there at Clear 
Space Force Station.
    The community just doesn't have a lot of housing, and I 
certainly know that, and I am sure that you do as well, so we 
were pleased to see that addition.
    Mr. Hollywood. Thank you for your support, Senator.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Boozman. Senator Hoeven.
    Senator Hoeven. Are you the chairman?
    Senator Murkowski. Yes.
    Senator Hoeven. Are you the chairman now? I thought you 
were the ranking member. When did you switch parties?
    Senator Boozman. Behave.
    [Laughter.]
    Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    My first question is for General Evans. We expected the 
Jamestown Readiness Center, which is the 817th Engineer 
Company, Sapper Company. We expected that they would be in the 
FYDP. Can you tell me how come they are not, and when they are 
going to be?
    General Evans. Thank you for the question, sir. So we 
prioritize based on the Army simulators, and the top line. I 
will go back to see where that project is for 2024, sir.
    Senator Hoeven. Yeah. That was their number one ask, so we 
need to get them in the FYDP, so I would appreciate that very 
much, if you would.
    General Evans. Yes, sir.
    Senator Hoeven. And then also the Line of Communications 
Bridge, can you tell me where you are in terms of the LOCB 
training capability, are you familiar with that?
    General Evans. Sir, I am not, but I can get you the answer 
to that question.
    Senator Hoeven. Okay; because we had included in the 
Approps Bill, report language directing you to establish a 
training pipeline for that program.
    General Evans. Yes.
    Senator Hoeven. So if you would check on that and let us 
know; will you?
    General Evans. Yes, sir.
    Senator Hoeven. Okay. Thank you, General.
    General Berry, Minot Air Force Base is the only base that 
has a dual nuclear mission, both the bombers, B-52 bombers, 
with the ALCM nuclear weapon, but also then the ICBMs. And so 
we need a new weapons generation facility. And I guess my 
question is; where are we in terms of the design, and then 
getting that new facility underway?
    General Berry. Yes, Senator. I think we agree with you, 
there is a need for a weapons generation facility at Minot. It 
is not yet in our FYDP. As we discussed, I think last year, the 
complexity of this particular weapons generation facility, 
having to deal with both the large missiles and the bomber, 
make it a uniquely difficult program and project to design, and 
then build.
    So our strategy is to learn the lessons that we can learn 
from the big missile bases, i.e. F.E. Warren, we have learned 
some lessons in that design on blast containment and fire 
suppression. Those are informing future designs so that we can 
correct those and make sure that we have robust designs in the 
future ones.
    And then with the bomber bases such as Barksdale, again, 
learning from those construction efforts as to what will be a 
good design for something that gets very complex because of 
Minot, which will have both missions. So we will, we will get 
to it, we are committed to do a WGF at Minot but we, our 
strategy is to learn those lessons first.
    Senator Hoeven. Yeah. But you are you are actually moving 
forward on both, so it seems to me, unless you tell me you are 
going to build some--either a deficient facility for the ICBMs, 
or a deficient facility for the nuclear bombers. I don't 
understand why you don't use those designs and proceed with 
ours.
    General Berry. We are going to be----
    Senator Hoeven. It seems like more of a reason to push it 
back in the FYDP----
    General Berry. No. Actually we are going to use those 
designs to inform the Minot design, so for example----
    Senator Hoeven. Starting when?
    General Berry. We don't have it right now in the FY DP, so 
I think we still need to mature the design on Barksdale and 
Ellsworth to understand what that facility looks like and what 
a good design is. So when we did F.E. Warren, as I said, we 
learned some lessons there with blast suppression--I am sorry 
blast containment and fire suppression that actually changed 
the design at Malmstrom. And so those lessons I think are very 
important for us to learn before we start putting designs 
together for a complex facility like North Dakota.
    Senator Hoeven. The ranking member here, now acting 
chairman I guess, and I worked very hard to support the B-21, 
so now you are putting weapons generation facilities in the 
bases that will get the B-21, which moved them ahead of Minot 
Air Force Base wherein we are reengineering the B-52 as part of 
that whole process, but which will carry that same weapon 
system.
    Now, they are all ahead of us in terms of getting new 
weapons generation facility, as well as the other missile 
bases. And I keep getting these rationales that we are going to 
learn from everybody else. Well, why don't we start building 
something at the Minot Air Force Base and learn from the Minot 
Air Force Base?
    We can't be--we are the only dual nuclear base, and we are 
behind everybody else, and we keep getting pushed back. That is 
not acceptable.
    General Berry. Senator, what I can do, is I can offer to 
come talk to you, and have our team come talk to you about the 
lessons that we are learning, and why we think that is a good 
strategy. We would be happy to dive into those details for you.
    Senator Hoeven. Let us do that.
    General Berry. Okay.
    Senator Hoeven. Thank you. On the Grey Wolf, I guess this 
one you are progressing on, and I do thank you for that, and if 
you could, please give me an update on the hangar for the Grey 
Wolf helicopter?
    Also, worked very hard with Senator Tester to make sure we 
funded new helicopters for those missile fields, so we need a 
place to house them. The current ``Hueys'' are older than the 
fantastic Air Force Pilots that are flying them.
    General Berry. Yes, sir. Sadly true. The facilities are 
currently out for bid, and so those bids should close the end 
of May for that facility. They will go through the source 
selection process; we think that will be done later in the 
summer. Unfortunately, I think last year I told you that we 
were trying to reconcile the bids because it was coming in 
higher than we thought for some of the inflationary pressures 
we had----
    Senator Hoeven. And we added after the first 66 million 
another 5-plus million to your appropriation.
    General Berry. We did, and we think we are going to be 
higher than that. And we think we are going to be higher than 
that. So that will drive another reprogramming much to the 
inflationary pressures we are talking about.
    Senator Hoeven. We will work with you to get it, but you 
have got to prioritize it.
    General Berry. Yeah. Sir, we will. We will absolutely 
prioritize that. But we expect it to be awarded in March of 
2023, and with the first helicopter coming in fiscal year 2027, 
we think that is pretty good timing.
    Senator Hoeven. Yes.
    General Berry. But we are committed to that.
    Senator Hoeven. And again, this is the only dual nuclear 
base.
    General Berry. Yes, sir.
    Senator Hoeven. We do need some more security work on the 
front gate. Which is another thing we are working with you on.
    General Berry. Yes, sir. And we will continue to work with 
the installation commander up there to understand those 
requirements to make sure they get programmed.
    Senator Hoeven. Yeah, and I think you are--yeah?
    General Berry. Yes, sir.
    Senator Hoeven. That being said, can I just thank all of 
you, and tell you how much we appreciate you, and all you do. 
You do an incredible job and we really appreciate it. Thank 
you, so much for your service.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Boozman. Thank you. On behalf of Chairman Heinrich 
and myself, we want to thank both panels of witnesses, and the 
senators who participated today, in today's hearing. I look 
forward to working together on this year's appropriations to 
ensure we are providing the Department Service members and 
their families with the military construction, and family 
housing resources that they need. And I know you all are 
totally committed in that regard also.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    Finally, we will keep the hearing record open for one week. 
Committee members who would like to submit written questions 
for the record should be able to do so by 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, 
May 25th.
    We appreciate the Department responding to them in a 
reasonable period of time.
                 Questions Submitted to Mr. Paul Cramer
          Questions Submitted by Senator Senator Brian Schatz
                  pacific deterrence initiative (pdi)
    Question. Expanding our posture and sphere of influence in 
INDOPACOM heavily relies on investments made in infrastructure, 
responsiveness, and resilience throughout the Indo-Pacific.
    How is the Department addressing the infrastructure needs in the 
Indo-Pacific to address the region's scant logistical concerns and 
projected force posture in a way that is responsible and assumes 
climate change and environmental risk mitigation?
    Answer. INDOPACOM is undertaking a review of past climate events at 
its posture locations to inform how future planning for exercises, 
basing, and strategies should incorporate components of resilience. 
Additionally, the Department is supporting INDOPACOM in its development 
of design criteria that address the twin challenges of reducing the 
risks of climate change and utilizing local materials and techniques.
                      defense community resilience
    Question. Our military and civilian communities are becoming 
increasingly integrated and dependent on each other. According to the 
Pentagon, there are over 4,000 military installations in the U.S., most 
of which are surrounded by local communities that are tightly linked to 
their military neighbors. These ``defense communities'' have a close 
civil-military connection that presents both challenges and 
opportunities for local governments and stakeholders. The military are 
trained and equipped to assist in community resiliency, further 
cultivating and building upon defense community partnerships.
    Would it benefit defense communities to conduct vulnerability 
assessments with local stakeholders to determine the current and 
projected risks to military and surrounding community infrastructure 
that could affect installation resilience?
    Answer. Recognizing the importance of partnering with the States 
and communities that support our installations, the Department works to 
ensure that vulnerability assessments and response actions leverage the 
expertise of local public and private civilian stakeholders, consider 
the economic and environmental comparative advantages of options, 
embrace an actionable plan, and continue to work together to address 
the risks appropriately. The Office of Local Defense Community 
Cooperation provides assistance to civilian jurisdictions to enable 
them to work closely with installations to undertake and respond these 
assessments.
    Question. Does DoD share projections and vulnerability models with 
state, Tribal, and local officials?
    Answer. Yes, to the extent possible, DoD shares with the 
neighboring jurisdiction working with the installation.
                                red hill
    Question. It has been brought to my staff's attention that 8-10 
percent of the $1 billion president's budget request for Red Hill will 
supposedly be going to RDT&E. Which DoD directorate will serve as the 
lead to manage this account?
    Answer. The Department of Defense is still developing plans for the 
permanent closure of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility (RHBFSF). 
Specific costs and the appropriate accounts are not yet known for (1) 
permanently closing RHBFSF, (2) conducting any and all necessary 
environmental remediation around the facility, or (3) any other 
associated longer term activities.
    The management of the Red Hill Recovery Fund requested in the 
fiscal Year2023 President's Budget will require an integrated approach 
across the Department. The Department is in the early stages of 
planning the complex, multi-step process to defuel and permanently 
close the RHBFSF. The Department's plan for permanent closure is due to 
the Hawaii State Department of Health in November 2022. The Department 
expects that in the next few months, it will begin to have a better 
understanding about the costs associated with the longer-term 
requirements, including which components will be responsible for 
meeting such requirements. The Department will provide a spend plan to 
the committees by September of 2022. To the extent the Department has 
reasonably reliable information on long-term costs by that time, the 
Department will incorporate that information into the spend plan

                                 ______
                                 

              Questions Submitted by Senator Bill Hagerty
    Question. The National Defense Strategy States that the Chinese 
Communist Party wants to shape a world consistent with its 
authoritarian model-gaining veto authority over the economic, 
diplomatic, and security decisions of other nations.
    Each day the Chinese Communist Party is strengthening its military-
posing an ever-incurring threat to the United States and our allies. 
That is why military posture of the United States and our allies in the 
Indo-Pacific region is more important than ever. As the former U.S. 
Ambassador to Japan, I worked with U.S. Forces in Japan, Indo-Pacific 
Command, and the Japanese Government to strengthen our military 
coordination.
    Can you describe the strategic environment of the Indo-Pacific 
today?
    Answer. The Indo-Pacific area of operations is characterized by 
strategic competition with our pacing challenge, China. The tyranny of 
distance poses an especially significant challenge to our efforts to 
counter Chinese influence in the region, as it places a heavy burden on 
the infrastructure necessary to deploy and operate in a contested 
environment.
    Question. Which aspects of the Chinese military concerns you the 
most?
    Answer. China recognizes the strengths of our power projection and 
sustainment, and possesses long-range weapons, significant anti-access/
area-denial (A2/AD) systems, and substantial cyber capabilities to 
disrupt our operations in the Indo-Pacific AOR. I am concerned with the 
Chinese military's continued development of these capabilities, as they 
threaten both our installations and operations in the region, as well 
as the energy and logistics infrastructure that support them.
    Question. How should the United States address these concerns?
    Answer. The United States must ensure that its installations, 
operational forces, and supporting infrastructure can operate in 
contested or degraded environments, regardless of the origin of the 
threat. Therefore, the Department must build resilience against the 
full range of man-made and natural threats through efforts such as: 
building microgrids to mitigate disruptions to the power grid; 
increasing the range and endurance of platforms to reduce operational 
energy demand and risk; and improving the cybersecurity of Facility 
Related Control Systems.
    Question. Tennessee plays a vital role in the development of our 
country's hypersonic systems. Tullahoma, Tennessee is home to the 
Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), a hypersonics testing 
complex critical to the success of U.S. efforts to rapidly field 
hypersonic systems.
    On May 18, 2022, I meet with representatives of the Arnold 
community and they told me the two most critical areas Congress must 
invest in to meet our goals to develop hypersonics are testing 
infrastructure and workforce development.
    They also tell me, increased activity in hypersonic systems has 
resulted in a very high-test tempo for these test capabilities and 
there is no single test cell or single wind tunnel that can fully 
duplicate all the key parameters of hypersonic flight simultaneously.
    How would you characterize the state of our current hypersonics 
testing infrastructure?
    Answer. The Department's infrastructure can adequately support the 
testing of current hypersonic prototypes; however, additional 
investment may be needed to meet future hypersonic acquisition program 
and operational test requirements along with the accelerated 
prototyping program schedules. For hypersonics testing infrastructure, 
the Department forecasts that aerodynamic wind test facilities demand 
will increase up to three times current throughput, aeroshell test 
facilities demand will increase up to five times current throughput, 
and long-range flight testing demand will increase up to three times 
the current throughput. Anticipated hypersonic test infrastructure 
shortfalls will be amplified by concurrent and overlapping test 
infrastructure requirements for strategic systems (nuclear 
modernization) and missile defense further reinforcing the need to 
assess and plan for capacity requirements moving forward.
    Question. What are the limiting factors in modernizing our existing 
facilities to meet the demand of today's testing operational tempo?
    Answer. Several factors limit modernizing existing hypersonic 
facilities to meet the demand of today's testing operational tempo, 
including limited downtime due to program schedules, limited 
availability of core infrastructure, substantial security requirements, 
and existing scheduled maintenance. Most significantly, modernizing an 
existing facility reduces testing throughput by taking the facility 
offline in order to accomplish upgrades and delays the schedule for 
accelerated programs requiring facility use. Hypersonics testing 
requires extensive core infrastructure (high- pressure air, cooling 
water, electrical power, and vacuum) which may not fit in the available 
footprint of the existing facility. Building new facilities, provides 
the opportunity to incorporate additional core infrastructure for 
hypersonics and to optimally design the facility to satisfy security 
requirements and enable concurrent testing of highly classified 
hypersonic systems, with minimal downtime for scheduled maintenance.
    Question. With the increased demand for testing, does the U.S. 
require additional testing facilities, to include wind tunnels or 
investments in our existing infrastructure?
    Answer. Future testing requirements may require additional U.S. 
hypersonics testing facilities. To support testing across the 
hypersonic spectrum, the Department has prioritized investments to 
ensure the most critical hypersonic capability and throughput needs are 
met to include the development of new facilities, upgrade of existing 
facilities, and reactivation of mothballed facilities. Investments in 
additional hypersonic test facilities include: development of new 
aeroshell test facilities at Arnold Engineering Development Complex 
(AEDC) in Tullahoma, TN and at CUBRC in Buffalo, NY; development of a 
new propulsion hypersonic ground test facility at AEDC in Tullahoma, 
TN; reactivation of a mothballed propulsion hypersonic ground test 
facility at NASA Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, OH; and 
restoration of the Holloman High Speed Test Track at Holloman AFB, NM. 
These investments enhance infrastructure to support test demand for 
hypersonic system development.

                                 ______
                                 

              Questions Submitted to VADM Ricky Williamson
              Questions Submitted by Senator Brian Schatz
                                red hill
    Question. The Navy waived its right to contest the most recent 
Hawaii DOH-issued emergency order on the defueling and closure of the 
Red Hill storage facility. The DOH emergency order requires the Navy to 
provide a plan to defuel by June 30th and a plan for closure by 
November 1st.
    How does the Navy plan to comply with the emergency order without 
an appropriate cost estimate?
    Answer. The superseding Emergency Order allows the Navy to provide 
its plans in two parts: a defueling plan that was submitted on 30 June 
and a tank closure plan due in November 2022. The DoD Defueling Plan 
submitted to the Hawaii Department of Health includes five phases; the 
Navy and Defense Logistics Agency are currently in Phase 2 of that 
plan, which is the planning/cost estimation phase. The ASD A&S has 
committed to providing a spend plan for defueling costs to Congress in 
September. The Secretary of Defense also decided to stand up a Joint 
Task Force for defueling; the JTF will be led by a senior Navy Flag 
Officer that will report to the Secretary of Defense via INDOPACOM. The 
JTF will execute the funds, the majority of which will flow through the 
Defense Logistics Agency rather than the Navy.
    Question. As the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet 
Readiness and Logistics, how does Secretary Austin's assessment on the 
redistribution of the Red Hill fuel reserve best support the Warfighter 
and do you agree with his assessment?
    Answer. With the Secretary's decision to stand up a Joint Task 
Force to oversee the defueling action, Secretary Austin has made it 
clear that defueling of Red Hill and distribution of fuel in the 
INDOPACOM area of responsibility are very high priorities. The Navy 
supports the Secretary's decision.
    Question. It has been brought to my staff's attention that 8-10 
percent of the $1billion president's budget request for Red Hill will 
supposedly be going to RDT&E. Which DoD directorate will serve as the 
lead to manage this account?
    Answer. Please redirect this question to OSD Comptroller, as the 
funding line in the President's Budget Request is an OSD line.

                                 ______
                                 

               Questions Submitted by Senator Marco Rubio
    Question. According to recent reporting, junior sailors at Naval 
Air Station Key West (NASKW) are struggling to find housing 
accommodations due to the closure of two of the base's barracks, high 
prices for off base housing, and scarcity of available units.
    How much advance notice did NASKW give its sailors living in the 
barracks that they would have to move out during the enlisted barracks 
renovation?
    Answer. Late January 2022, Installation leadership and 
Unaccompanied Housing (UH) staff began notifying residents of the 
upcoming renovation project and indicating the Unaccompanied Housing 
facilities would close in May 2022. Communications continued with 
residents and leadership of tenant commands throughout the process via 
town halls, command leadership meetings, flyers, and personal 
interactions with residents until actual closure occurred on 1 June 
2022.
    Question. What plans were in place prior to the closure of the two 
base barracks to help sailors find housing?
    Answer. The Installation Housing Service Center instituted a 
roommate program with either residents selecting roommates or being 
included in a roommate-matching program. Navy Housing Service Center 
provided lists of available rentals in the community as well as options 
for installation housing through the Public Private Venture (PPV) 
partner.
    When initial notification of the UH closure was provided, 60 
Sailors were residing in the facilities. 41 Sailors took immediate 
action and found suitable housing in the community, 17 of which took 
advantage of PPV housing. 19 Sailors remained in the UH facility in the 
beginning of May. Of those 19, two enacted Permanent Change of Station 
(PCS) orders, two returned to their USCG vessels, 10 moved into the 
local community and five will take advantage of the vacation rentals.
    Question. How long will the renovations take? What is the expected 
date of return into the barracks?
    Answer. Renovations are expected to take 18--24 months with the 
building being returned for service in Fiscal Year 2024.
    Question. Will the renovated barracks be able to house the same 
number of enlisted members who lived there prior to the renovation?
    Answer. Yes, the building previously and will continue to house 60 
sailors after renovation is complete.
    Question. For sailors having found other temporary housing, how 
many used the trailers intended as ``vacation rental units?''
    Answer. Five Sailors will take advantage of the vacation rentals. 
Vacation rentals were delayed for occupancy until 1 July 2022. Those 
Sailors are currently staying in Navy Gateway Inns and Suites.
    Question. How much time will elapse from the point a sailor applies 
for the ``partial dislocation allowance'' until it is paid to the 
sailor?
    Answer. The average time to process the partial DLA was 3--5 days 
per Sailor. One Sailor needed to resubmit the request per the 
processing administrative office.
    Question. Is it a one-time payment?
    Answer. Yes.
    Question. Is it a set payment amount or does it vary depending a 
sailor's rank?
    Answer.. Set amount of $840.07 to help offset costs associated with 
moving into a new residence, such as security deposits or advances.
    Question. How is the Navy notifying incoming sailors who are coming 
to NASKW with Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders about the 
barrack shutdown and the need to find alternate living arrangements?
    Answer. NAS Key West is working closely with all the tenant 
commands to modify the command's Welcome Aboard information and ensure 
sponsors are aware of the barracks closure during renovations. Welcome 
Aboard packages will include instructions on how to apply for Basic 
Allowance for Housing (BAH) and detail all housing options available on 
and off the installation. The packets will also include information on 
the roommate program and contact information for the Navy Housing 
Service Center.
    Question. Is it true that the sailors PCSing to NASKW are not 
eligible for the partial dislocation allowance?
    Answer. Yes, that is correct. Only Sailors dislocated from barracks 
were eligible for the partial dislocation allowance. PCSing personnel 
are authorized Temporary Lodging Expense (TLE), a 10-day allowance to 
cover costs while securing permanent arrangements.
    Question. What is the minimum time onboard NASKW or other Navy 
facility before a sailor is eligible for the partial dislocation 
allowance?
    Answer. All Sailors that were residing in barracks after 27 April 
22 were authorized, regardless of time onboard.
    Question. Are there any other Navy installations in Florida where 
sailors are or will have to relocate to temporary housing due to 
barracks renovations now or through the end of the year?
    Answer. There are no other Navy installations in Florida where this 
will occur now or through the end of year.
    Question. If so:
    How many Sailors are impacted?

    When will they be notified?

    When will the renovations start?

    How long will they be displaced to other housing?
    Answer. N/A

                                 ______
                                 

              Questions Submitted to Lt. Gen. Edward Banta
              Questions Submitted by Senator Bill Hagerty
                    united states marine corps from
    Question. The National Defense Strategy States that the Chinese 
Communist Party wants to shape a world consistent with its 
authoritarian model-gaining veto authority over the economic, 
diplomatic, and security decisions of other nations.
    Each day the Chinese Communist Party is strengthening its military-
posing an ever-incurring threat to the United States and our allies. 
That is why military posture of the United States and our allies in the 
Indo-Pacific region is more important than ever. As the former U.S. 
Ambassador to Japan, I worked with U.S. Forces in Japan, Indo-Pacific 
Command, and the Japanese Government to strengthen our military 
coordination.
    Can you describe the strategic environment of the Indo-Pacific 
today?
    Answer. The current strategic environment of the Indo-Pacific 
theater is a complex system of systems where both nation States and 
non-state actors are competing for ever-diminishing natural resources. 
This is occurring while we see the People's Republic of China (PRC) 
continuing to rapidly modernize in order to challenge the current order 
in an attempt to ensure that it benefits the PRC's continued global 
rise.
    Question. Which aspects of the Chinese military concerns you the 
most?
    Answer. The People's Liberation Army (PLA's) rapid modernization, 
including investment in new capabilities and greater capacities are 
very concerning. More concerning than PLA modernization alone is how 
the PRC views and leverages all instruments of national power to 
achieve its ends.
    While the U.S. separates conflict from competition, viewing those 
as discrete events handled by different government agencies, the PRC is 
willing and able to use all instruments to wage war. This directly 
challenges the U.S. way of war, with kinetic and non-kinetic effects 
that can contest the homeland and deter U.S., allies' and partners' 
intervention.
    Question. How should the United States address these concerns?
    Answer. While PLA increased modernization and aggressive actions 
represent a formidable adversary for current and future policy makers, 
we also have systemic tools which will both give the PRC pause and 
blunt future global growth and influence. A coherent, whole of 
government approach to align and coordinate efforts across the 
government agencies would facilitate integrated deterrence and build 
the connections needed to rapidly respond to PRC malign actions. While 
the PRC also now has a global reach, and significant soft power through 
both official government channels and state- owned enterprises, the US 
has a network of allies and likeminded partners to counter the PRC's 
transactional, bilateral approach. This network, buttressed by codified 
agreements and military presence, supports legitimacy of action and 
forces the PRC to contend with multiple stakeholders contesting their 
malign actions.

                                 ______
                                 

                 Questions Submitted to LTG Jason Evans
          Questions Submitted by Senator Senator Brian Schatz
                    hawaii installation investments
    Question. The Hawaii Infrastructure Readiness Initiative (HIRI) is 
the Army's $2.6 billion 30-year plan to improve readiness and 
addressing critical shortfalls in facilities on Hawaii, including at 
Schofield Barracks, Fort Shafter, and Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA). 
This year's Presidential Budget Request (PBR) does not include any 
funding for critical infrastructure improvements in Hawaii; however, a 
2018 MOU formalized a commitment to provide at least $100 million in 
annual funding to address a backlog of infrastructure needs for the 
Army in Hawaii. HIRI requires high-level attention and vigilance from 
USARPAC to ensure the Army does not delay projects, including planning 
and design funds.
    Given the importance of the Indo-Pacific, particularly in a 
changing threat environment, why were there no funds requested in the 
PBR? Does that reflect the prioritization the Army places on critical 
infrastructure in Hawaii?
    Answer. The Army recognizes the original HIRI program outlined in 
the 2018 MOU was to execute $1.02B over 10 years. The Army also 
recognizes the importance of continued facility investment in the Indo-
Pacific Region. While constrained top lines and competing facility 
priorities prevented the Army from making any investments in Hawaii in 
Fiscal Year 2023, the Army plans to invest $1.37B in the Indo-Pacific 
through the FY23-27 Future Years Defense Program, $575M of which is 
planned for projects in Hawaii. including two projects upgrading water 
distribution systems, two projects for training range modernization, 
and $496M towards projects that were identified in the Hawaii 
Infrastructure Readiness Initiative.
    Question. My office was recently informed about the substandard 
training and living conditions for Federal firefighters at PTA. How is 
the Army addressing these concerns and when can we expect suitable 
living conditions for Federal fire fighters on PTA? Does the Army have 
a named project and budget estimate to upgrade existing--or construct 
new--facilities at PTA?
    Answer. The Army is aware of the substandard facility conditions of 
its Operational Readiness Training Complex at the Pohakuloa Training 
Area (PTA) in Hawaii and the U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii. A staff 
assistance visit is being conducted to identify areas for improvement, 
share best practices, and provide recommendations. The team will also 
look at staffing, equipping, maintenance, current living quarters, the 
new firefighting facility currently under renovation, and will speak 
with members of the PTA Fire team. Once the visit is complete, I 
understand that USAG-Hawaii will prioritize recommendations from the 
visit requiring funding.
    Question. What risk is the Army assuming by allowing the Pacific's 
land force to train, live, and work in substandard facilities?
    Answer. The Army is aware of the substandard facility conditions of 
its Operational Readiness Training Complex at the Pohakuloa Training 
Area (PTA) in Hawaii and the U.S. Army Garrison. Hawaii is conducting a 
staff assistance visit to identify areas for improvement, share best 
practices, and provide recommendations. Our focus is on facilities with 
a poor/failing rating, which includes, U.S Army Kwajalein Atoll and 
U.S. Garrison Hawaii. Our current projected Restoration and 
Modernization costs to bring these facilities at these garrisons up to 
100 percent is approximately $3.8B.
    Question. Will you commit to reengaging and reprioritizing HIRI so 
we can avoid any long-term impacts to readiness as DoD prioritizes 
Hawaii's role in the Pacific Deterrence Initiative?
    Answer. The Army will continue to address the former Hawaii 
Infrastructure Readiness Initiative (HIRI) projects as priority 
facility investments, in consideration of the Army's overall facility 
requirements. The Army plans to invest $1.37B in the Indo-Pacific 
through the FY23-27 Future Years Defense Program, $496M of which 
support projects that were identified in HIRI. All of these investments 
promote force readiness under the Pacific Deterrence Initiative.
    Question. What is the Army doing at Schofield Barracks, Fort 
Shafter, and PTA to mitigate the effects of climate change to buildings 
and family housing to effectively manage the future costs associated in 
maintaining a degraded infrastructure?
    Answer. The Army uses the DoD Climate Assessment Tool to understand 
an installations' vulnerability to climate-related hazards. Using the 
Climate Assessment Tool as part of a comprehensive analysis will help 
the Army determine where best to apply resources to improve climate 
adaptation and resiliency for facilities in Hawaii (e.g. Schofield 
Barracks, Fort Shafter, and PTA) to mitigate the effects of climate 
change to buildings and family housing.

                                 ______
                                 

             Questions Submitted by Senator Mitch McConnell
              housing at kentucky's military installations
    Question. Fort Knox is currently investing in renovating the 
installation's junior enlisted housing and building new general/flag 
officer quarters and four bedroom homes. Please provide an update on 
these housing projects, including an estimated timeline for completion.
    Answer. Over the next 5 years, Lendlease will fund and construct 
four (4) new homes, renovate more than 1,600 homes, and replace more 
than 500 roofs at its Fort Knox MHPI project. Lendlease has completed 
400 renovations and over 200 roofs to date. Target completion date for 
all development/construction work in 2025.
    The construction of 50 new 4-bedroom homes as well as the GFOQ 
homes are on hold pending a final determination regarding the 
stationing of V Corps command headquarters.
    Question. Fort Campbell is currently in a partnership with 
Lendlease to renovate more than 1,100 junior enlisted homes. However, 
it is my understanding that the installation will still have more than 
1,800 legacy homes at the end of this project. What is Army's plan for 
renovating or replacing all legacy homes in Fort Campbell's inventory?
    Answer. The Army and Lendlease are in a privatized housing 
partnership at Fort Campbell. The Army will not invest any funding in 
the homes at Fort Campbell; instead, the Army has approved Lendlease's 
plan to demo/replace up to 680 homes and complete Major Renovations on 
an additional 444 homes at Fort Campbell through 2026. Upon completion 
of the work there will be an estimated 1,500 legacy homes remaining. 
All Army echelons are working with Lendlease on a strategy to continue 
to either replace or renovate the remaining legacy homes at Fort 
Campbell after 2026.
    Question. The Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus appropriations bill provided 
additional funding to increase the pace of renovating Fort Campbell's 
1970's Volunteer Army (VOLAR) era barracks. What is Army's updated 
timeline for renovating all remaining VOLAR barracks at Fort Campbell 
to ensure the installation can provide updated housing for the 1st 
Brigade Combat Team, a key readiness and retention issue?
    Answer. There are 17 VOLAR barracks at Fort Campbell that require 
renovation. However, not all of the barracks can be renovated at the 
same time due to a lack of temporary space to house Soldiers whose 
buildings are being renovated. Renovation projects for two barracks 
were awarded in fiscal Year 2021 (in progress); and renovation projects 
for three more barracks are scheduled for award in fiscal Year 2022. 
The remaining 12 barracks are scheduled for renovation from fiscal Year 
2023 to fiscal Year 2029.

                                 ______
                                 

               Questions Submitted by Senator Marco Rubio
    Question. I continue to hear from operators from the 7th Special 
Forces Group stationed at Camp Bull Simons at Eglin Air Force Base 
about how the lack of child care has impacted readiness and quality of 
life at the base. With traffic, service members have to drive three 
hours every day to access a childcare facility, and while the 
conversations with a potential provider have been encouraging, I still 
have several concerns.
  --Can the Army ensure that any new child care facility for 7th Group 
        operators will consider the accurate need at the facility 
        specifically for all of the children of 7th group operators?

  --How is the Army working with operators and their families to ensure 
        that their voices are heard in the process, including potential 
        concerns over distance from the 7th Group compound, 
        affordability, and accessibility?
    Answer. The Army continues to work with the Air Force to address 
childcare needs to support the 7th Special Forces Group and the 
population that lives north of the main post of Eglin Air Force Base 
main post.
    The Air Force is working with the Army to pursue an agreement with 
two private providers to construct a child development center in 
Crestview for 300 child care spaces for military families. These spaces 
will be eligible for Army Fee Assistance. 7th SFG families would pay 
the same fee that they would using an installation child care center.
    Should these providers not meet the Army's child care requirements, 
the Army plans to fund the construction of a Child Development Center 
in FY25 to serve the tenant Army population at Eglin AFB should 
suitable installation land be identified.

                                 ______
                                 

              Questions Submitted by Senator Bill Hagerty
    Question. The Fiscal Year 2023 President' Budget Request cuts Army 
military construction by 39% compared to what Congress provided in 
Fiscal Year 2022. The Army also transmitted to Congress a $1.4 billion 
``unfunded requirements list'' for Army military construction. These 
are just priority unfunded requirements, which I will note do not 
include World War II-era barracks or the 46-year-old Aircraft Control 
Tower at Fort Campbell.
    At the same time, the U.S. is facing historic inflation, I am told 
that military construction is facing even higher inflation, about 22%.
    Lieutenant General Evans, can you describe how this ``unfunded 
priorities list'' is formulated? And how a project moves onto or off 
the list?
    Answer. Each component reviewed its highest priority facility 
requirements that were not included in the President's Budget 
Submission. These projects were further evaluated to ensure that they 
supported the Army's top priorities of People, Readiness and 
Modernization.
    Question. Additionally, can you discuss what the risks will be if 
Congress does not address these requirements that the President's 
budget neglects.
    Answer. If not funded the Army will be delayed in getting these 
priority facilities constructed. Omission in this President's budget 
could potentially delay construction starts to FY25 and beyond.

                                 ______
                                 

              Questions Submitted to Lt. Gen. Warren Berry
               Questions Submitted by Senator Marco Rubio
    Question. As you are aware, in March 2021, the Air Force announced 
that Tyndall Air Force Base would be the official location to host 
three new squadrons of F-35s. Yet, in recent testimony to the House 
Armed Services Committee, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall's stated 
that the plans for the F-35s are currently on hold due to maintainers 
who would be needed to support the aircraft being tied up supporting A-
10 warthogs.
    Can you confirm the Air Force will continue all planned military 
construction at Tyndall to ensure the base becomes the ``base of the 
future,'' and that the F-35s are able to arrive at Tyndall without 
issue?
    Answer. The Air Force continues to execute all planned military 
construction at Tyndall Air Force Base to include the beddown of the F-
35 mission. We remain on track for the first F-35 aircraft arrival in 
late September 2023 using temporary facilities while construction of 
permanent facilities, awarded in May 2022, continues.
    Question. What workforce challenges does the current need for the 
A-10s present for the F-35s both now and in the long term, and what is 
the Air Force doing to address this situation?
    Answer. The A-10 divestment restrictions have put pressure on the 
Air Force's already strained maintenance and pilot manpower. As such, 
the Air Force will be challenged to find the experienced personnel 
needed to stand up the first of the three squadrons at Tyndall AFB on 
the originally planned timeline. Until the Air Force can source 
personnel required for the three combat-coded squadrons planned for 
Tyndall AFB, the Air Force may need to accept risk and take experienced 
pilots and maintainers from other currently operating F-35 locations, 
leaving them undermanned. As we continue to work through the barriers 
of legislative divestment restrictions, we believe we are on path to a 
solution for the first squadron at Tyndall. We are committed to meeting 
the September 2023 date for the first aircraft, as we continue 
exploring solutions for the second and third squadrons.
    More details regarding F-35 manpower and MILCON at Tyndall AFB are 
addressed in the following article: Insinna, VI, (2022, 14 June) As 
Tyndall Tries to Rebound, A-10 Fight Prompts F-35 Maintainer Shortfall, 
'Significant Risk ', Breaking Defense: https://breakingdefense.com/
2022/06/as-tyndall-tries-to-rebound-a-10-fight-prompts-f-35- 
maintainer-shortfall-significant-risk/

                                 ______
                                 

              Questions Submitted by Senator Bill Hagerty
    Question. Tennessee plays a vital role in the development of our 
country's hypersonic systems. Tullahoma, Tennessee is home to the 
Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), a hypersonics testing 
complex critical to the success of U.S. efforts to rapidly field 
hypersonic systems.
    On May 18, 2022, I meet with representatives of the Arnold 
community and they told me the two most critical areas Congress must 
invest in to meet our goals to develop hypersonics are testing 
infrastructure and workforce development.
    They also tell me, increased activity in hypersonic systems has 
resulted in a very high-test tempo for these test capabilities and 
there is no single test cell or single wind tunnel that can fully 
duplicate all the key parameters of hypersonic flight simultaneously.
    How would you characterize the state of our current hypersonics 
testing infrastructure?
    Answer. The AF recognizes the criticality of hypersonic test 
infrastructure investment and accordingly, with support from the Office 
of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Test Resource Management Center 
(TRMC), is making significant investments to include open air range 
test capability (Edwards AFB), high-speed test track capabilities 
(Holloman AFB) and high-temperature test facilities (Arnold Air Force 
Base).
    Question. What are the limiting factors in modernizing our existing 
facilities to meet the demand of today's testing operational tempo?
    Answer. Currently, the AF, in conjunction with the Office of the 
Secretary of Defense (OSD) Test Resource Management Center (TRMC), is 
addressing throughput limitations of our hypersonic ground test 
facilities via the development of a new thermal protection test 
facility, Dragon Fire, as well as planned improvements to other 
hypersonic wind tunnels and a hypersonic high speed test track.
    Question. With the increased demand for testing, does the U.S. 
require additional testing facilities, to include wind tunnels or 
investments in our existing infrastructure?
    Answer. OSD/TRMC has created an extensive hypersonic investment 
roadmap and has determined that the AF has the appropriate number of 
wind tunnels.OSD/TRMC, as the lead for all Department of Defense 
hypersonic investment, is in the best position to address the 
Department's plans for additional testing facilities.

                          SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

    Senator Boozman. And again, thank you, all very much for 
being here. Thank you for all you represent.
    [Whereupon, at 5:15 p.m., Wednesday, May 18, the hearing 
was adjourned, and the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene 
at a time subject to the call of the Chair.]