by Paul Chang for the Director, Corrosion Policy & Oversight (DASD) [Materiel Readiness]
Updated: 11-20-2019
Introduction
Within This Page
The magnitude of property owned by the Department of Defense cannot be understated because it owns more than 460,000 facilities at over 772 installations around the world. The average life span of a facility is, at minimum, equal to the lifespan of the equipment or people it houses. With this in mind, an annual cost study to identify corrosion costs was necessary to highlight problem areas in the sustainment efforts of DoD facilities.
Description
The following charts provide the total cost of maintenance in millions by Military Department for the construction, maintenance, and research and development of Facilities and Infastructure (Facilities). From this, the total cost associated with corrosion is further broken down to either a preventive cost or a corrective cost in relation to labor, materials, and research and development. Corrosion costs are identified and itemized as a percentage of the total cost. The Department of Defense facilities corrosion-related cost is approximately $2 to $3 billion dollars annually or between 15 to 20% of the maintenance cost.
Department of Defense and Military Services Corrosion Costs
Figure 1. Total DoD Corrosion Cost Chart ($ in millions)
Credit: CorrDefense.org
Figure 2. Total U.S. Army F&I Corrosion Cost Chart ($ in millions)
Credit: CorrDefense.org
Figure 3. Total U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F&I Corrosion Cost Chart ($ in millions)
Credit: CorrDefense.org
Figure 3. Total U.S. Air Force F&I Corrosion Cost Chart ($ in millions)
Credit: CorrDefense.org
To further delineate sections of expense, the actual costs were collected for all facilities and real property from each military service, specific to their standardized taxonomy known as the Facility Analysis Category (FAC) code. These costs consist of maintenance, construction, and research and development. FAC codes provide detailed items of facility types that can be related to maintenance preventive or corrective actions; however, it still does not account for the unknown areas such as deferred maintenance. Deferred maintenance is still maintenance that must be addressed but is not necessarily recorded.
Table 1. Sample F&I Corrosion Cost Breakdown by FACs
| FAC | Total Ft.2 (in millions) | Corrosion cost / unit | Corrosion cost (in millions) | Maintenance cost (in millions) | Corrosion as % of maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8511—Road, surfaced | 476.3 | $0.10 | $46 | $517 | 8.9% |
| 7110—Family housing dwelling | 463.6 | $0.09 | $43 | $383 | 11.2% |
| 6100—General admin. building | 229.7 | $0.97 | $222 | $1,585 | 14.0% |
| 7210—Enlisted unaccompanied personnel housing | 158.8 | $1.14 | $180 | $1,000 | 18.0% |
| 4421—Covered storage building, installation | 172.2 | $0.42 | $72 | $377 | 19.0% |
| 2145—Vehicle maintenance facility | 107.4 | $1.16 | $125 | $345 | 36.3% |
| 2111—Aircraft maintenance hangar | 76.2 | $0.66 | $51 | $263 | 19.2% |
| 2192—Facility engineer maint. facility | 26.2 | $1.73 | $46 | $416 | 11.1% |
| 8910—Utility building | 23.5 | $2.45 | $58 | $814 | 7.1% |
| 2131—Ship maintenance dry dock | 3.8 | $10.57 | $40 | $248 | 16.2% |
Credit: CorrDefense.org
It should be noted that this small but significant perspective of DoD facilities and infrastructure is representative of those decisions and actions taken years preceding the study timeline. This is due to facilities and infrastructure having a much longer life expectancy (~100 yrs.) with maintenance actions dependent on budget constraints. It should also be noted that planned military construction due to deteriorated facilities is considered a corrective action and can be a significant portion of the total costs.
Facility owners make decisions based on safety, mission readiness, and operability often influenced with a constrained budget. So, the opportunity to reduce costs must begin early during the planning and design phases starting with material selection, design best practices, and continued into sustainment. Identifying high-cost drivers for facility owners is the first step in acknowledging problem areas and addressing life cycle cost drivers.
