Michael T Braman

Privatization of Military Repair Depots Michael T Braman

Privatization and out-sourcing are buzzwords that are all the rage these days inside the Washington beltway. DoD is looking at any and all work currently being accomplished by military and civil servants that can be transferred to the private sector. Defense Depot Maintenance's considerable annual budget make it a prime target for the privatization movement. Congress has entered the fray by chartering several recent commissions to reduce the cost of buying and maintaining weapon systems. Both the Commission on Roles and Missions and the Base Realignment and Closure committees have recommended reductions in the depot capacity of the Services. Privatization is nothing more than letting private industry perform the same function as the current public depot system. An alternative to privatization is interservicing. Interservicing lets one service get depot support from another. One drawback to interservicing is it puts the Services at potential odds with each other as they try to protect against further reductions. Choosing the right path will be difficult, assuming there is a right path. There is little argument that money can be saved by reducing the defense depot infrastructure. Several questions must be answered in the attempt at doing this. First, will the Services still be able to meet readiness requirements; second, does privatization actually save money; and third, can interservicing work, given each of the service's desire to maintain their own equipment?