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BRAC gets letter defending operation at Wright-Pat
By Jessica Wehrman
Washington Bureau
BOSTON | Members of Ohio's congressional delegation argue in a letter to the Base Closure and Realignment Commission that a recommendation to move Wright-Patterson jobs to Massachusetts costs too much and was made during a flawed deliberative process.
The letter, signed by Sens. Mike DeWine and George Voinovich, and Reps. Mike Turner, David Hobson and John Boehner, all Republicans, opposes the proposed movement of the Development and Fielding Systems Group to Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Mass.
The letter was sent Tuesday, barely a week before the base closure commission is to begin voting on specific Defense Department proposals.
It will be one of the last arguments the congressional delegation can make before the commission votes on the Wright-Patterson to Hanscom move.
According to the letter, the Wright-Patterson program procures, fields and provides technical assistance for automated business, logistics and management systems. The Defense Department proposes to merge it with Hanscom's C4ISR program — command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
That work, among other things, helps airmen determine whether they've effectively taken out targets and provides communication with the battlefield. The Defense Department estimates the move will cost the Dayton region 2,250 jobs, including 988 contractor jobs.
Ohio lawmakers argue that with only 8.4 available acres for industrial use, Hanscom does not have enough available space to accommodate the jobs.
They also say the costs will be higher than initially estimated because of the high cost of living in the Boston area, where Hanscom is located. Among the costs the Defense Department did not consider, they say, was the price of moving 1,412 contractor jobs from the Dayton area, Montgomery, Ala., and San Antonio, Texas, to Boston, which would increase the Defense Department's annual labor costs by $33.7 million.
The group argues that a Defense Department task force that considered the base closure recommendations made the recommendation before fully figuring out the military value of it.
Finally, they say that a $410 million Massachusetts proposal to beef up infrastructure at the base may have influenced the Defense Department recommendation. According to base closure guidelines, the Defense Department cannot make recommendations based on community proposals.
Turner, R-Centerville, has been most critical of the Massachusetts proposal and has said it attempts to turn the base closure process into a "bidding war" where communities that offer to spend money win military infrastructure.
But Alan Macdonald, executive director of the Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative, the group that helped put together the $410 million proposal, said the plan was never intended to create a bidding war. Instead, Massachusetts consulted planners who urged them to use available parking lots and add levels to buildings to maximize space. The result was a plan aimed at saving Hanscom from closure and showing the Air Force that Hanscom had room to grow.
"We have the deepest, most dense, most experienced technical workforce in the country," he said. "All we did as part of the (base closure) process was clear up perceived weaknesses."
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