Sometimes, the “out of sight, out of mind” attitude that blinds many people from appreciating the importance of maintenance and engineering departments actually applies to facilities themselves. The general public can easily see the effects of deferred maintenance on crumbling K-12 schools, universities and office buildings, but most people never see the condition of military facilities. One recent glimpse of the condition of military facilities offers a sobering reminder that they also are in dire shape.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has thousands of buildings on its bases. Together, the buildings cost several billion dollars each year to maintain. But funding for the task has regularly fallen short of the amounts that the department estimates would keep them all in working order. As a result, DoD faces a backlog of maintenance.
A recent report by the Congressional Budget Office analyzed the condition of more than 100,000 buildings that the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy use and maintain on their bases in the United States and its territories. Based on data provided by the services that were current as of September 2020, CBO found the following:
Total deferred maintenance. The four services had about $50 billion in deferred maintenance on their bases. The Army and the Navy accounted for about 70 percent of the backlog.
Deferred maintenance costs per building and per square foot. The Marine Corps and the Navy had higher deferred maintenance costs, on both a per-building and a per–square-foot basis, because their buildings were reported to be in worse condition than the other services’ buildings.
Buildings with high replacement values. The Air Force’s and the Navy’s buildings with the highest replacement costs tended to be in the best condition.
Aging buildings. The Marine Corps on average had newer buildings than the other services had, but the Marine Corps’ buildings appeared to degrade faster as they age.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
