Navy Opens Base That’s Designated for Closing

A ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the opening Monday of the new $30-million Naval Undersea Warfare Center.

The federal government has a 20-year lease on the building at a cost of nearly $4 million a year. But even before the center opened, the base closing commission decided to save money by closing it.

“This is the kind of thing that makes the government look foolish,” said Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-Va.), one of several Virginia congressmen who tried to get the center removed from the federal Base Closure and Realignment Commission’s hit list.

The engineering and testing center will consolidate about 1,500 military and civilian employees now working at five locations in nearby cities.

But the commission is recommending further consolidation by moving the Virginia detachment to Undersea Warfare Center headquarters in Newport, R.I.

The commission made the recommendation even though the federal General Services Administration has the 20-year lease on the new building and the Navy signed a 15-year commitment to the building with the GSA.

“To move into a brand-new facility, custom-built for this operation, and pay all of the moving expense to get here, and then turn around and spend money to move again, just doesn’t make any sense,” Scott said.

The commission’s 4-3 vote to transfer the unit, which could take as long as six years, showed that it was a close call, he said. The commission accepted the Defense Department’s suggestion that the relocation would save money.

Congress has until the middle of August to accept or reject the commission’s entire list. It cannot make changes.