Bases Merge Nonmilitary Staffs in Bid to Trim Costs

Taking a page from corporate playbooks, two Ventura County military bases will enter the world of mergers and consolidation today as part of a Navy-wide effort to save money for costly weapons systems.

The Point Mugu Naval Air Station and Port Hueneme Naval Construction Battalion Center are among bases around the nation that are merging their nonmilitary services--including fire, police and employee relations.

Officials say the move will eliminate redundant operations and reduce administrative costs, as well as trim dozens of jobs.

In Ventura County, about 977 civilian workers will be affected, and about 40 to 50 positions will be eliminated in the next year through attrition, early retirement and voluntary separation, officials said.

The cuts, which could eventually require layoffs, will be across the board, including management and rank-and-file workers.

There are no estimates of how much money will be saved in Ventura County, officials said.

“The goal isn’t a monetary one right now,” said Capt. Jim McConnell, who will lead the consolidated support operation in the county. “The goal is to do things through established business practices.”

Those streamlined practices will produce savings that likely will be directed toward development and procurement of weapon systems, McConnell said. The move could also protect the two bases from closure in the future, he said.

“The more effective and efficient we become, the better case we’ll have if we’re ever looked at for base closure,” McConnell said.

But the move entails more than cost cutting and, for some, new administrators.

McConnell said the consolidation, which has produced friction, would force the county’s two bases to integrate identities that have been separate for decades. Point Mugu is dedicated to testing high-tech missiles, while Port Hueneme is largely a base for the Navy’s construction forces.

“We need to start looking at Mugu and Hueneme as a single operational entity,” he said.

Other bases across the country have already consolidated support functions, and many more will make such changes in coming months.

The changes will occur at the highest levels, with the number of Navy organizations overseeing base support operations being reduced from 18 to eight.

Today’s change will also bring base operating support services at Point Mugu and Port Hueneme under the auspices of the commander in chief, Pacific Fleet, Archie Clemins.

“Oct. 1 is a significant day in an ongoing process,” said Merritt Allen, a Navy spokeswoman at the Pentagon. “The reality is we have a smaller budget, and we’ve got to find a way to streamline our business processes.”

County Supervisor Frank Schillo, chairman of the Regional Defense Partnership and a supporter of the two bases, said the move would eventually bring more Department of Defense business to Ventura County.

“They’re getting themselves positioned so they will be able to compete with other facilities for programs,” Schillo said. “It’s a business attitude that they have.”

That emerging business culture is on clear display at the county’s two bases.

A Sept. 11 brief on the consolidation begins with a quotation from Microsoft mogul Bill Gates and lists “Focus on the Customer” as the first guiding principle of the effort.

And at Point Mugu, public information officers emphasized that the change will provide better service as a result of the consolidation.

The increasing emphasis on cost-cutting and efficiency cuts across the military, analysts said.

“The problem is the services say they have been facing an essentially flat budget,” said Dan Smith, director of research for the nonprofit Center for Defense Information. “They’re having to do more with the same amount of money and, on top of that, they’re being asked to modernize their equipment.”