CPC Source - DoD Facilities and Infrastructure Corrosion Costs

by Paul Chang for the Director, Corrosion Policy & Oversight (D, CPO) [OUSD (AT&L)]
Updated: 04-05-2017

Introduction

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Introduction
Description
Additional Resources

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

Bar chart illustrating DoD corrosion cost in millions: FY07 - $8,974 maintenance costs with $1,663 of that in corrosion costs (15.7%); FY08 - $10,911maintenance costs with $1,967 of that in corrosion costs (15.3%); FY09 - $13,565 maintenance costs with $2,660 of that in corrosion costs (16.4%); FY10 - $12,702 maintenance costs with $2,692 of that in corrosion costs (17.5%); FY11 - $13,039 maintenance costs with $2,984 of that in corrosion costs (18.6%)

Figure 1. Total DoD Corrosion Cost Chart ($ in millions)
Credit: CorrDefense.org

Bar chart illustrating U.S.Army corrosion cost in millions: FY07 - $2,781 maintenance costs with $668 of that in corrosion costs (19.4%); FY08 - $4,269 maintenance costs with $592 of that in corrosion costs (12.2%); FY09 - $4,534 maintenance costs with $1,063 of that in corrosion costs (19.0%); FY10 - $4,477 maintenance costs with $1,160 of that in corrosion costs (20.6%); FY11 - $4,944 maintenance costs with $1,153 of that in corrosion costs (18.9%)

Figure 2. Total U.S. Army F&I Corrosion Cost Chart ($ in millions)
Credit: CorrDefense.org

Bar chart illustrating U.S.Navy and Marine Corps corrosion cost in millions: FY07 - $2,656 maintenance costs with $666 of that in corrosion costs (20.0%); FY08 - $3,052 maintenance costs with $725 of that in corrosion costs (19.2%); FY09 - $3,664 maintenance costs with $886 of that in corrosion costs (19.5%); FY10 - $4,108 maintenance costs with $889 of that in corrosion costs (17.8%); FY11 - $4,187 maintenance costs with $1,215 of that in corrosion costs (22.5%)

Figure 3. Total U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F&I Corrosion Cost Chart ($ in millions)
Credit: CorrDefense.org

Bar chart illustrating U.S.Air Force corrosion cost in millions: FY07 - $3,538maintenance costs with $339 of that in corrosion costs (8.8%); FY08 - $3,590 maintenance costs with $651 of that in corrosion costs (11.7%); FY09 - $5,366 maintenance costs with $711 of that in corrosion costs (11.7%); FY10 - $4,117 maintenance costs with $644 of that in corrosion costs (13.5%); FY11 - $3,907 maintenance costs with $617 of that in corrosion costs (13.6%)

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.

Additional Resources

WBDG

CPC Source—Best Practices and Lessons Learned

Federal Agencies

Facilities Investment and Management Initiatives (ASD (EI&E) Facilities Investment and Management)

Publications

Training

CPC Source—Training

Federal Facility Criteria:

Department of Defense

Topics:

Corrosion