IMPACT OVERVIEW

The recommendations made on May 13, 2005 by the Department of Defense (DoD) to the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) Commission, are detrimental to Arlington, to the Washington, D.C. region and to the DoD agencies themselves. These recommendations include the dislocation of nearly 23,000 employees from leased office space in Northern Virginia and will effect both mission effectiveness and cost.

2005 BASE RELOCATION AND CLOSURE (BRAC) COMMISSION'S RECOMMENDATIONS

Impact on Arlington

The BRAC Commission's recommendations will directly impact approximately 4 million square feet of Arlington office space and 20,000 jobs. The indirect impact (contractors and non-government companies that work with directly affected agencies) is unknown, but will be substantial. This impact will be spread out over several years.

• Redistribution of jobs away from Arlington.
• Maps identifying those buildings directly impacted can be found in AED's BRAC Briefing Update for Brokers, Developers and Real Estate Community (Powerpoint; 2.6 mb).
• An overview of the importance of the Federal Government to Arlington's business health can be found in The Federal Presence in the Urban Village: The Economic Impact of Federal Facilities in Arlington, Virginia, a 2003 report by Arlington Economic Development (PDF; 1.2 mb).

The Department of Defense Report of May 2005

-DoD's recommendations had five basic goals:

1. Transforming the current and future force and its support systems to meet new threats;
2. Eliminating excess physical capacity;
3. Rationalizing the base infrastructure with the new defense strategy;
4. Maximizing both warfighting capability and efficiency; and
5. Examining opportunities for joint activities.

The following themes emerged from their recommendations:

1. Support force transformation;
2. Rebase forces to address new threat, strategy, and force protection concerns;
3. Consolidate business-oriented support functions;
4. Promote joint and multi-Service basing; and
5. Achieve savings.

The complete Department of Defense: Base Closure and Realignment Report: May 2005 can be found on their Web site.

Unified Facilities Criteria: Department of Defense Antiterrorism Standards for Buildings

At the Town Meeting of July 19, 2006, held by Representatives James Moran and Tom Davis, a presentation describing the Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC)(3.7 MB; PowerPoint) was made by Joseph Hartman of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The complete Criteria can be found on the Department of Defense Web site or on the National Institute of Building Sciences' Whole Building Design Guide Web site.

Other resources of interest:

• The 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) Commission's official Web site
• Regional Hearing Schedule
• Hearing Transcripts and Additional Information
• Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990
• Procedural Rules of the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission
• Commissioners
• Comments Search page. In the dropdown box called "Base/Installation/Facility:", select "Leased Space - VA".
• The Department of Defense's Brac page
• Unified Facilities Criteria: DoD Minimum Antiterrorism Standards for Buildings (issued October 8, 2003)