Research for CRM

Ecological Risk Assessments (ERAs) are performed at hazardous waste cleanup sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) program to determine the risk that contaminants pose to the environment. A number of concerns have been expressed with respect to ERAs and other studies conducted at CERCLA sites including the following: too much effort is being spent on 'studies' instead of remedies; and remedies are largely determined on the basis of human health risk and any applicable cleanup standards in place as opposed to ecological risk. As a result of these concerns, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Environment) asked the Center for Naval Analyses to conduct a study of the utility of ecological risk assessments. This study was to review the ERA process in general and address specific issues. This report documents the results of the study.

Outsourcing is one way, although not the only way, to increase efficiency. Outsourcing, or more generally, competition (whether public or private) provides cost visibility - customers begin to see what they pay for goods and services. It also can provide alternative sources, enhance flexibility, introduce better business practices, and take advantage of emerging technologies and innovations. Outsourcing and competition are sometimes considered something new and untested, as experiments. In fact, they are not. The public sector has relied on the private sector for years. Although it is hard to write contacts for something as risky as developing and manufacturing a major weapon system, the Department of Defense (DOD) has done it repeatedly. DOD has outsourced successfully functions as complex as acquisition, and as straightforward as laundry services. This is not uncharted territory. The purpose of this paper is to take a first look at what outsourcing opportunities exist and what types of cost savings are possible. To glean some insights into implementation, we look at how one naval technical center has outsourced various functions. We consulted several databases to quantify good candidates.

From FY 1992 to FY 1994, the Navy's Zone B retention rate for enlisted personnel fell by 13 percentage points. Zone B refers to sailors in their seventh to tenth year of service. The Center for Navy Analyses studied this drop in retention and found that the FY 1994 rate was about 5 percentage points below the rate projected in the post-drawdown steady state. The study also concluded that Navy drawdown policies could explain 8 percentage points of the 13-point decline in retention seen between FY 1992 and FY 1994. Of those 8 points, 2.4 were attributed to monetary separation incentives. However, the effects of any Navy policy are difficult to pinpoint because of the large number of factors at play that also affect retention. For example, the drawdown coincided with an upturn in the civilian economy, which may have also contributed to the drop in retention from FY 1992 to FY 1994.

Since 1989, the Navy has decommissioned 165 ships, seen its endstrength fall by nearly a quarter, and had its budget reduced by $38 billion -- a net reduction of 32 percent. These cuts have raised fears that the Navy may once again be on the verge of a hollow force. Our review of the readiness literature suggests that hollowness is a condition that keeps ships from living up to their design potential. It is the general state that persists whenever maintenance problems dominate a force; when poor quality sailors seem the rule rather than the exception; and when meaningful training is both scarce and questionable. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Navy experienced all of these problems and more. This paper summarizes the stages of our work on this issue and discusses the insights and key findings we have made along the way.