93D CONGRESS | HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES REPORT
1st Session No. 93-693
MILITARY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATION FOR
FISCAL YEAR 1974
DECEMBER 4, 1973.-Ordered to be printed
Mr. SIKEs, from the committee of conference,
submitted the following
CONFERENCE REPORT
[To accompany H.R. 11459]
The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two
Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 11459)
"making appropriations for military construction for the Department
of Defense for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1974, and for other
purposes," having met, after full and free conference, have agreed to
recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses as follows:
That the Senate recede from its amendments numbered 4, 5, and 6.
That the House recede from its disagreement to the amendments of
the Senate numbered 7 and 8, and agree to the same.
Amendment numbered 3:
That the House recede from its disagreement to the amendment of
the Senate numbered 3, and agree to the same with an amendment,
as follows:
In lieu of the sum proposed by said amendment insert $9247277,000;
and the Senate agree to the same.
The committee of conference report in disagreement amendment
numbered 1 and 2.
ROBERT L. F. SIKES,
EDWARD J. PATTEN,
DAVID OBEY,
GUNN McKAY,
GEORGE MAHON,
BURT L. TALCOTT,
ROBERT C. MCEwEN,
ELFORD A. CEDERBERG,
Managers on the Part of the House.
MIKE MANSFIELD,
JOHN L. McCLELLAN,
WILLIAM PROXMIRE,
JOSEPH M. MONTOYA,
ERNEST F. HOLLINGS,
STUART SYMINOTON,
HOWARD W. CANNON,
RICHARD S. SCHWEIKER,
MILTON R. YOUNG,
CHARLES MCC. MATHIAS, Jr.,
HENRY BELLMON,
JOHN TOWER,
Managers on the Part of the Senate.
HL2.493
JOINT EXPLANATORY STATEMENT OF TIlE
COMMITTEE OF CONFERENCE
The managers on the part of the House and the Senate at the con-
ference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments
of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 11459) making appropriations for mili-
tary construction for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1974, and for other purposes, submit the following
joint statement to the House and the Senate in explanation of the
effect of the action agreed upon by the managers and recommended in
the accompanying conference report:
Amendment No. 1, military construction, Army: Reported in techni-
cal disagreement. The managers on the part of the House will offer a
motion to recede and concur in the amendment of the Senate with an
amendment to appropriate $578,120,000 instead of $551,575,000 as pro-
posed by the House and $567,735,000 as proposed by the Senate. The
managers on the part of the Senate will move to concur in the amend-
ment of the House to the amendment of the Senate.
This would provide the following changes to the amounts and line
items as proposed by the House:
Fort Polk, La.: Commissary---..-----------------------------. $1, 977, 000
Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pa.: Medical equipment maintenance
facility ---------------------------------------------------- 411, 000
U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.: Hospital-------------- +20, 000, (0)
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory,
N.H.: Logistics and storage facility__________ +597, 000
Military Ocean Terminal, Bayonne, N.J.:
Administrative facilities__ ___- ___________________ ____ +1, 800. 000
Electric substation______________________________ +400. o(0
Pueblo Army Depot, Colo.: Stack emission controls______-__-__- +395. (H)
Access roads .----------------------------------------------- +2, 000
Fort McClellan, Ala.: Housing and training facility/WAC Band___ -1, 035, 000
After prolonged discussion, the House conferees agreed to appro-
priate $20,000,000 for medical facilities at the Military Academy, West
Point, New York. The Senate conferees insisted on providing this ap-
propriation in the fiscal year 1974. They felt that having the funds
available would allow the Army to proceed as quickly as possible with
hospital construction so as to avoid increased costs due to inflation in
the construction industry in this area.
The conferees are in agreement that the Army's original plan to
build a 100-bed regional hospital at West Point at a cost of $25,000,000
was unrealistic, is in excess of the medical workload experienced and
projected for West Point, and is overly expensive. The conferees of
both Houses are in agreement that hospital facilities at West Point in
no event shall exceed the $20,000,000 appropriated and that the hospital
shall be a (5-bed hospital. It is strongly suggested that the Army pro-
vile a sufficient contingency factor in its estimates in order to avoid
contract cancellation should the cost exceed $20,000,000. The conferees
(3)
H.R. 693
are in agreement that the function to which the hospital should be
specifically designed is to provide excellent medical care to cadets and
to active duty military personnel stationed at the Military Academy.
They further agree that the Army should restudy the location, con-
figuration, scope, utilization, and cost of the proposed hospital facility
so as to provide for the above-cited functions in the optimum and least
costly manner. The conferees direct the Army to report back to the
Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives when it has completed its studies and plans for medical
facilities at West Point. No funds will be obligated for construction
and no construction contract advertised or awarded for medical facili-
ties at the Military Academy until approval of the Army's plans and
specific authority to proceed with construction have been provided in
writing from the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and
House of Representatives.
The House conferees were not satisfied that the Army's plans for the
construction of the hospital at the proposed location near Washington
Gate, approximately 1.6 miles from the cadet area, would provide
adequately for cadet medical care without some further provision for
dispensary "sick call" or light bed care facilities for the cadets. The
House conferees would be extremely concerned with any plan which
would make cadet care more inconvenient or less adequate than that
provided by the present hospital. The House conferees expect the Army
to thoroughly examine this problem as a part of its studies and plan-
ning for the provision of medical facilities. The House conferees will
not approve a hospital plan which does not take adequate account of
these needs. Furthermore, the Army should program any required
cadet dispensary facilities or other facilities required to provide medi-
cal care to cadets within the $20,000,000 allowance provided in this
For the NATO infrastructure program the conferees restored
$20,000,000 as proposed by the House. The conferees feel that, com-
mencing with the next five-year (1975-1979) NATO common infra-
structure program (Slices XXVI-XXX), the effective United States
contribution to the NATO common infrastructure should be at a
maximum 20%. This goal could be obtained by either a 20% share of
a normal NATO infrastructure program or by a combination of a
normal NATO infrastructure program and a new European defense
improvement program financed entirely by European nations. The
conferees further give notice that in the future they will look unfavor-
ably upon requests which would fund a United States payment to the
program at an effective rate above 20% for Slice XXVI and sub-
sequent slices.
Amendment No. 2, military construction, Navy: Reported in tech-
nical disagreement. The managers on the part of the House will offer
a motion to recede and concur in the amendment of the Senate with an
amen lment to appropriate $609,292,000 instead of $587,641,000 as pro-
posed by the House and $608,467,000 as proposed by the Senate. The
managers on the part of the Senate will move to concur in the amend-
ment of the House to the amendment of the Senate.
H.R. 693
This would provide the following changes to the amounts and line
items as proposed by the House:
Naval Underwater Systems Center, New London Laboratory, New
London, Conn.: Engineering building------------------------ +$3, 600, 000
Military Ocean Terminal, Bayonne, N.J.: Military Sealift Com-
mand, Atlantic relocation----------------------------------- +1, 806, 000
Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.: Maury Hall rehabilitation -_ +__ 300. (4)
Naval Supply Corps School, Athens, Ga.: Restoration of com-
missary store---------------------------------------------- +120, 000
Naval Station, Pearl Harbor. Hawaii: Enlisted men's dining
facility .------------------------------------------------- +1,34. 00
Atlantic Fleet Weapons Range, Puerto Rico (sec. 204) ------------ +12, 000, 000
Naval Complex, Guam: Naval Station theater__------------------- +1,480, 000
Access roads ...---------------------------------....------------- +1, 000, 00)
The conferees have not allowed additional appropriations for
$3,400,000 authorized to cover the cost of acquisition of leasehold in-
terests situated on land acquired by the Navy under authority provided
in fiscal year 1972 at Naval Station, Norfolk, Virginia. Under the pro-
visions of the fiscal 1972 legislation, authority exists and monies are
available to take seven leaseholds which the Navy claims are required
in the near future for Navy military construction projects at this in-
stallation. Additionally, nonappropriated funds can be made available
to take a leasehold required to allow the construction of an Exchange
warehouse at this location. The conferees feel that the acquisition of
these leaseholds in this manner represents a prudent approach and that
additional funding is not required at this time.
The conferees deferred without prejudice a communications facility
at the Naval Station, Charleston, South Carolina, pending a restudy
byv the Navy of the manner in which this improvement in communica-
tions should be accomplished.
An agreement has been reached by the joint committee of conference
that $12,000,000 will be added to finance the movement of the ship-to-
shore and other gun fire and bombing operations of the United States
Navy from the island of Culebra.
The relocation of such operations from the northwest peninsula of
the island of Culebra is expressly conditioned upon the conclusion of
a satisfactory agreement to be negotiated by the Secretary of the
Navy, or his designee, with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Subse-
quent to the conclusion of such agreement, the Secretary of Defense
shall report the terms of the agreement to the Committees on Appro-
priations of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Prior to the
obligation of any of the funds appropriated in this Act for the con-
struction and equipage of substitute facilities in support of the relo-
cations of the above-mentioned activities from Culebra, the Secretary
of Defense shall request, in writing, the approval of the Committees
on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The conferees are in agreement that within 30 days of the receipt of
both the information and the request referred to in the two preceding
sentences of this report their respective Committees will approve or
disaplprove the Secretary's request. The agreement shall provide,
among other things, that the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall in-
sure that (1) Commonwealth lands suitable for carrying out opera-
H.R. 693
tions of the type referred to above will be made available for the con-
tinued use of the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Range and Fleet Marine
Forces training areas by the Navy, including, but not limited to, pres-
ent areas and facilities on the island of Vieques, and (2) any proposed
facility or activity which would interfere with the Navy training mis-
sion will not be undertaken, including the proposed deep water super-
port on the island of Mona, in the event that such agreement includes
the use by the Navy of such island or the area adjacent to such island.
The present bombardment area on the island of Culebra shall not
be utilized for any purpose that would require decontamination at the
expense of the United States. Any lands sold, transferred, or otherwise
disposed of by the United States as a result of the relocation of the
operations referred to above may be sold, transferred, or otherwise dis-
posed of only for public park or public recreational purposes.
At the Naval Station, Keflavik, Iceland, two projects; namely, the
bachelor officers quarters, $3,258,000, and the bachelor enlisted quar-
ters, $2,834,000, have been restored to the Navy program. The joint
conference agrees, however, that these funds may not be obligated
until an agreement has been signed by the United States Government
and the Icelandic Government setting forth the conditions under
which the Navy may continue to use Iceland as an operating base.
The conferees have granted authority to proceed with the projects
requested for Naval Detachment, Souda Bay, Crete, Greece and for
Naval Air Facility, Sigonella, Sicily, Italy. The funding for the fol-
lowing projects, however, is reduced by the amounts shown below to
encourage greater use of direct programming through NATO infra-
structure slices as explained in the House report:
Naval Detachment. Sonda Bay, Crete. Greece:
Aircraft parking apron------------------------------------_ $2, 666, 000
Air passenger/cargo terminal_____--------------------------------____ 277,000
General warehouse ------------------------------------------265,000
Naval Air Facility, Sigonella. Sicily, Italy: Photographic building__ 164, 000
The conferees have provided $4,000,000 over the amount budgeted
for the Navy's planning and design account. This will not increase new
budget authority, however, as these funds are provided by repro-
gramming from savings or cancellation of other projects which are
not needed.
Amendment No. 3, military construction, Air Force: Appropriates
2147,277,000 instead of $239,702,000 as proposed by the House and
$261,198,000 as proposed by the Senate. The conferees have agreed to
the following additions and deletions to the amounts and line items
as proposed by the House:
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio: Alter aircraft engine com-
ponent research facility_________----------------------------------- +$1,887,000
Satellite Control Facility, Kodiak, Alaska: Automotive mainte-
nance facility---------------------- __________ +462, 000
Malinstrom Air Force Base, Mont.: Dormitory facilities---------- +213, 000
Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas: Commissary---------------- +2, 273,000
Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.: Base personnel office__------------_ +1, 933,000
U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Germany- Deficiency authorization
funding _ . ._ . ..__ _ . ..__ . ..____ . .____ ..__ +307,000
funding -------------------------------------------------- +307,000
Access roads _ _--------------_--- +2-------- - --2,000,000
Grissum Air Force Base, Ind.: Alter airmen dormitories-------- -1,500,000
I.R. 693
The conferees have deferred the request for $13,500,000 for special
aircraft support facilities at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.
Further development of the concept for the use of these Boeing 747
National Emergency Airborne Command Post aircraft is required, as
is satisfactory development of the command-control communications
package for these aircraft and electromagnetic pulse testing of the air-
craft and communications systems.
Approval has been given for the funding of three Air Force proj-
ects at the Naval Station, Keflavik, Iceland; namely, an aircraft
maintenance shop, $222,000; a weapons release systems shop, $594,000 ;
and a parachute and dinghy shop, $539,000. The committee of con-
ference states that these projects may not be placed under contract
until a Status of Forces Agreement has been reached between the
United States and the Icelandic Government.
The conferees have restored a portion of the House cut which was
applied to the funding of a deficiency authorization for projects in
Germany for United States Air Forces in Europe. The conferees agree
to restore $307,000 for additional costs of constructing an aircraft
maintenance complex at Ramstein Air Base, while approving author-
ity but not additional funding for an air freight terminal at the same
location. This is consistent with action on the fiscal year 1973 ap-
propriation which allowed authority but no funding for this project to
encourage the programming of such projects through NATO infra-
structure slices.
Amendments No. 4 and 5, military construction, Defense Agen-
cies: Provide no appropriation as proposed by the House instead of
appropriating $12,000,000 as proposed by the Senate.
The conferees agreed to provide no new budget authority for mili-
tary construction, Defense Agencies as provided in the House bill;
however, the conferees restored authority to construct a logistics sup-
port facility for the National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort Meade,
Maryland, which is to cost $3,529,000. The House receded from its
action deleting this project as the result of changes of plans by NSA
which would increase its utilization and of better information on cost
savings. This project, along with other projects approved for the De-
fense Agencies, is to be funded by the transfer of unobligated bal-
ances contained in the Defense contingency fund, which is also carried
under this appropriation.
Amendment No. 6, military construction, Naval Reserve: Appro-
priates $22,900,000 as proposed by the House instead of $20,300,000 as
proposed by the Senate.
The committee of conference approves the $2,600,000 requested by the
Navy for rehabilitation of facilities to accommodate the move of Naval
Reserve Headquarters units from Omaha, Nebraska and Glenview,
Illinois to New Orleans, Louisiana. However, the conferees are con-
cerned about the escalation of the cost of this project from $1.500,000.
which included approximately $400.000 in operation and maintenance
costs, to the requested $2,600,000 for military construction. The Navy
is directed to provide a detailed explanation of this cost increase to
both Committees on Appropriations.
HB.R. 693
Amendment No. 7, family housing, Defense: Appropriates $1,188,-
539,000 as proposed by the Senate instead of $1,194,539,000 as proposed
by the House.
Amendment No. 8, family housing, Defense: Authorizes not to ex-
ceed $97,947,000 for the construction of Navy family housing as pro-
posed by the Senate instead of $103,947,000 as proposed by the House.
The joint conference has agreed that the 150 units of housing at
Naval Station, Keflavik, Iceland, will not be funded in the amount of
$6,000,000. A further agreement has been made that the Navy may
fund these houses through a reprogramming action after a Status of
Forces Agreement has been negotiated between the United States and
the Icelandic Government if they are still required.
COMMISSARIES
The committee of conference has allowed two of the four commis-
sary facilities which were in disagreement between the two Houses.
Commissary facilities were approved at Fort Polk, Louisiana and
Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas because of the particular need shown
at these installations. The conferees are in agreement that the De-
partment of Defense should take measures to increase the use of com-
missary surcharge monies or other nonappropriated funds for the con-
struction of commissary facilities or recommend to Congress such
changes in legislation as are necessary to effect this. Furthermore, the
conferees agree that the Chairman of the two Committees will write
to the Secretary of Defense recommending that he study the use of sur-
charge funds or other nonappropriated funds to cover the cost of con-
struction of all commissary facilities except those overseas or in iso-
lated locations.
As noted in the House report, commissary operations are funded
substantially from appropriated funds. They enjoy numerous advan-
tages which allow them to further reduce their costs below those of
commercial counterparts. It is for these reasons that the conferees feel
that the use of appropriated funds for commissary construction can be
te(hlced.
H.R. 693
9
CONFERENCE TOTAL-WITII COMPARISONS
The total new budget (obligational) authority for the fiscal year
1974 recommended by the committee of conference, with comparisons
to the fiscal year 1973 total, the 1974 budget estimate total, and the
House and Senate bills follows:
New budget (obligational) authority, fiscal year 1973---------- $2, 323, 221, 000
Budget estimates of new (obligational) authority, fiscal year
1974 --------------------------------------------------- 41, !100, oo
HIouse bill, fiscal year 1974---------------------------------- 2, 609, 090, 000
Senate bill, fiscal year 1974-------------------------------- 2, 670. 972, 099
Conference agreement------------------------------- 2, 658, 861, 000
New budget (obligational) authority, fiscal year 1973 -- +335, 640, 000
Budget estimates of new (obligational) authority, fiscal
year 1974------------------------------------------ -2s6, 039. 000
House bill, fiscal year 1974------------------------------ +4, 771, 000
Senate bill, fiscal year 1974-------------------------------12, 111.00
'Includes H. Doe. 93-155 request for $7,000,000 for Homeowners assistance fundl,
Defense; excludes H. Doec. 93-155 requests for an additional $4,.300,000 for Military
construction, Army and an additional $31,100,000 for Family housing, Defense, which
were not considered due to lack of authorization.
ROBERT L. F. SIRES,
EDWARD ,J. PATTEN,
DAviD Olir,
GEORCE nlAljIN.
BtURT L. T.LCOTrT,
Rolumrr C. McEwEx,
EL,voin A. CEDERP.EIG,
lManargers on the Part of the lousc.
IRE MANSFIELD,
.JOHN L. RMCCLELLAN,
WILLIAM PROXMIRE,
JOSEPH MT. MONTOY A,
ERNEST F. HOLLINGS,
STUART SYMINGTON,
HOWARD W. CANNON,
RICHARD S. SCHWEIRER,
MILTON R. YOUNG,
CHARLES MCC. nMATHLAS, Jr.,
HENRY BELLMON,
JOHN TOWER,
Managers on the Part of the Senate.
O
H.R. 693