(Washington, DC)  --  U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Concord Township) today sent a letter to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission to highlight another critical mistake in calculations that improperly landed the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) office in Cleveland on BRAC’s hit list.

 The Cleveland DFAS office is slated to be realigned in the proposed and costly consolidation of DFAS, and more than 1,000 jobs could be lost.  LaTourette, who testified Monday in Buffalo on behalf of Cleveland DFAS, said he has since unearthed new information that reveals yet another flaw in the BRAC process.

 “Cleveland DFAS was greatly penalized in the process for not meeting current DoD anti-terrorism standards,” LaTourette said.  “Remarkably, the standards the site is supposed to meet do not even go into effect for more than four years.  I think this is just another example of DoD manipulating data to help certain DFAS offices and harm others, like Cleveland.”

 LaTourette said under the proposed consolidation, DFAS operations will be consolidated at three main DFAS sites – Indianapolis, Columbus and Denver.  The Indianapolis office will absorb virtually all military payroll functions and 3,500 jobs could be added there.  There are 12 basic military payroll functions – Active Duty Pay, Reserve Pay and Retired Pay for all four services.  Cleveland DFAS handles 8 of the 12 functions, including all Retired Pay and almost all Reserve Pay.  Indianapolis, meanwhile, handles just one main pay function – Army Active Duty Pay.

 LaTourette said the BRAC Report stresses that one of the key reasons Indianapolis, Denver and Columbus were spared in the consolidation process is because they meet current DoD anti-terrorism standards that apply to buildings owned or leased by DoD.  The report did not specify if Cleveland met the standard so LaTourette asked DoD to reveal which DFAS offices meet the standard and which do not.  DoD responded in writing to LaTourette on June 3, 2005, that Cleveland DFAS was not among the sites meeting the standard.

 LaTourette has now uncovered evidence that the standards Cleveland DFAS allegedly “fails” to meet do not even take effect until October 1, 2009, since DFAS Cleveland is housed in a leased building.  DFAS Cleveland is housed in a building owned by the General Services Administration (GSA) and renewed a lease for 5 years in February.

 LaTourette said DoD’s anti-terrorism rules for leased buildings are crystal clear: “DoD personnel occupying leased buildings deserve the same level of protection as those in DoD-owned buildings.  Implementation of these standards is therefore mandatory for all facilities leased for DoD use.....This requirement is intended to cover all situations, including General Services Administration space, privatized buildings, and host-nation and other foreign government buildings.  This requirement is applicable for all new leases executed on or after 1 October 2005 and to renewal or extension of any existing lease on or after 1 October 2009. Leases executed prior to the above fiscal years will comply with these standards where possible.”

 LaTourette said it is clear that Cleveland DFAS would constitute a renewal or extension of an existing lease and therefore has until October 1, 2009, to meet the new standards.

 LaTourette said the methodology used to determine which DFAS offices would close, be realigned or gain jobs appears to be designed to help sites that DoD wants to gain jobs while data is massaged to hurt sites that DoD wants to eliminate.

  “DoD is basically rewarding DFAS Indianapolis because they meet anti-terrorism standards years ahead of schedule and penalizing Cleveland for not meeting standards that aren’t even in effect yet,” LaTourette said, adding that the Celebrezze Building is slated to undergo a $30 million renovation project thanks to funds that Congress earmarked.

 LaTourette said he is not surprised that DFAS Indianapolis, also a GSA site, meets DoD anti-terrorism standards many years before they take effect.

 “Taxpayers just footed the bill for a $123 million, top-to-bottom  renovation at DFAS Indianapolis, and I would guess that money would go a long way to make a building safe in the eyes of DoD,” LaTourette said.