Report: Nearly $3B needed for maintenance, renovation on Naval Base Kitsap buildings

Peiyu Lin, Kitsap Sun
·4 min read
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A report issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that the Navy will need approximately $1.05 billion to eliminate the deferred maintenance backlog for the buildings at Naval Base Kitsap to meet the Navy's standard, and an additional $1.87 billion to renovate and modernize the buildings.

The office, which produces independent analysis of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process, released a report in November, saying that the Navy has regularly fallen short of amounts to maintain its buildings in its bases. And it will cost approximately $49 billion to keep up with the maintenance, renovation and modernization of roughly 20,000 buildings that are used and maintained by active Navy — excluding the Navy Reserve and the Marine Corps — on its bases in the United States.

"On average, completing those buildings’ maintenance and their renovation and modernization wouldcost nearly half as much as replacing them altogether," the report said.

The buildings CBO analyzed in the report were used for hospital and medical care, family housing, utility and ground improvement, community, research, development, test and evaluation (RDT& D), administration, troop housing and food services, supply, operation and training, and maintenance and production, according to the report.

The analysis looked at 1,028 buildings at Naval Base Kitsap, said Deborah Kilroe, CBO's director of communications in an email to Kitsap Sun.

Since 2019, an estimated $805 million has been spent maintaining, repairing and renovating buildings at Naval Base Kitsap and this doesn't include new military construction projects nor centrally funded projects, said Naval Base Kitsap spokesperson Katy Crabtree.

The over $800 million spending is far behind CBO's estimated cost of $2.92 billion in total for the over 1,000 buildings maintained by Naval Base Kitsap.

Location

CBO Report's Estimation

Navy's Spending

All Navy bases in the U.S.

The cost of eliminating maintenance backlogs and raising the condition of the buildings to the Navy’s standards is $17 billion (in 2020 dollars).

The Navy spent about $2.3 billion annually, on average, between 2020 and 2022 to sustain all of its real property, including buildings and nonbuilding structures.

Naval Base Kitsap

The Navy will need about $1.05 billion to eliminate the deferred maintenance backlog and an additional $1.87 billion to renovate and modernize the buildings to fully support their users’ missions.

An estimated $805 million has been spent maintaining, repairing and renovating buildings at the base since 2019.

Second-highest estimated costs among all Navy bases

Naval Base Kitsap is the base that has the second-highest estimated costs needed to complete the maintenance, renovation and modernization of its buildings among all Navy bases in the U.S., according to the report. The Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (including Naval Station Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii) has the highest estimated cost for both eliminating the deferred maintenance and renovation and modernization. The third and fourth naval bases that have larger combined costs are Naval Station Norfolk and Naval Base Coronado.

Installation

Cost to Eliminate the Deferred Maintenance Backlog

Cost to Renovate and Modernize

Total

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam

2.27 (Billions of 2020 Dollars)

4.84

7.11

Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton

1.05

1.87

2.92

Naval Station Norfolk

0.66

1.83

2.49

Naval Base Coronado

0.86

1.46

2.32

Naval Support Activity Norfolk Naval Shipyard

0.54

1.16

1.7

Naval Support Activity Washington

0.57

1.09

1.66

Naval Base Ventura County-Point Mugu

0.58

1.04

1.62

Naval Air Station Oceana

0.40

0.96

1.36

Naval Air Station Patuxent River

0.47

0.94

1.41

Naval Base San Diego

0.44

0.88

1.32

CBO based its estimation on the most recent data provided by the Navy as of September 2020 and doesn't consider the effects of the risen prices of goods and services since then. Also, the report doesn't account for the effects of the Navy's current efforts to modernize facilities in its shipyards, such as the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP), according to the report.

It's unclear whether prioritizing restoration and modernization funds through SIOP will improve or degrade the overall condition of the Navy’s buildings, CBO said in the report.

"The SIOP could increase the productivity of Navy shipyards and improve the readiness of Navy ships. Butprioritizing funding for buildings in shipyards could further worsen the condition of the Navy’s other buildings and increase the Navy’s total costs of renovation and modernization in the future," according to the report.

A chart that shows the estimated cost to complete deferred maintenance for Navy buildings by each naval base in the U.S. is displayed in "The Navy’s Costs to Eliminate Its Deferred Maintenance Backlog and to Renovate and Modernize Its Buildings" report issued by the Congressional Budget Office in November 2023.
A chart that shows the estimated cost to complete deferred maintenance for Navy buildings by each naval base in the U.S. is displayed in "The Navy’s Costs to Eliminate Its Deferred Maintenance Backlog and to Renovate and Modernize Its Buildings" report issued by the Congressional Budget Office in November 2023.
A chart that shows the estimated cost to renovate and modernize Navy buildings by each naval base in the U.S. is displayed in "The Navy’s Costs to Eliminate Its Deferred Maintenance Backlog and to Renovate and Modernize Its Buildings" report issued by the Congressional Budget Office in November 2023.
A chart that shows the estimated cost to renovate and modernize Navy buildings by each naval base in the U.S. is displayed in "The Navy’s Costs to Eliminate Its Deferred Maintenance Backlog and to Renovate and Modernize Its Buildings" report issued by the Congressional Budget Office in November 2023.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Naval Base Kitsap facilities need billions in upgrades: Report