Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1975

VII.

Organization, Management, and Budget

At the close of fiscal year 1975, little more than one year after the 20 May 1974 Army staff reorganization, indications were that reorganization goals had been met. Improved direction and control of the Army staff, consolidation of fragmented responsibilities, removal of staff layering, clearer definition of responsibilities, and manpower savings were a few of these goals. The completion of the reorganization, described in last year's summary, reduced the Army staff and supporting agencies to 5,547 people, the lowest level since the Korean War.

During the past year a major review of field operating agencies eliminated 3,525 spaces which will be allotted to combat units. Significant organizational changes included the elimination of the Officers Interchange Group; the transfer of the Standardization Groups (Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom) from the supervision of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development, and Acquisition to the Materiel Command; and the transfer of supervision of the Army Medical Historical Unit from The Surgeon General to the Chief of Military History.

In accordance with plans announced on 27 June 1974 and reported in last year's summary, the following major headquarters were eliminated: U.S. Army Intelligence Command, Fort Meade, Maryland, 30 June 1974; Theater Army Support Command, Europe, and Engineer Command, Europe, 30 September 1974; U.S. Army, Pacific, and U.S. Army, Alaska (the 172d Infantry Brigade—Alaska—assumed the Army component functions of the unified command), 31 December 1974; U.S. Army Forces, Southern Command (the 193d Infantry Brigade-Canal Zone-assumed the Army component functions of the unified command), 31 December 1974.

The Secretary of Defense approved the integration of Headquarters, United Nations Command/U.S. Forces, Korea, and Headquarters, Eighth U.S. Army, into a single headquarters on 1 July 1974. Completion of the action on 1 October

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1974 eliminated 271 spaces for a manpower saving of 24.6 percent for the Army and 18.8 percent overall.

Planned and installation closings and realignment of functions under Project CONCISE continued into fiscal year 1975. On 22 November 1974 the Secretary of Defense announced plans to close Frankford Arsenal; realign several Army Materiel Command depots that would cause major reductions at Lexington-Blue Grass, Pueblo, Sharpe, and Savanna Army Depots; and reorganize Fort Hamilton, New York, as a subinstallation of Fort Dix, New Jersey. These closures and realignments began on 1 July 1975 and were to be completed by the end of fiscal year 1977. On 18 March 1975 the Secretary of the Army announced additional realignments involving a number of Army medical laboratories, the Computer Systems Command Support Group at the Presidio of San Francisco, and the U.S. Army Communications Command.

General Research Corporation in December 1974 completed a study on the effectiveness of the Army reorganization of 1973 within the United States, particularly as it related to the effectiveness of the Training and Doctrine Command, the Forces Command, the Health Services Command, the Operational Test and Evaluation Agency, and the Concepts Analysis Agency. A study advisory group composed of command and agency representatives will meet early in fiscal year 1976 to review study findings and discuss follow-up actions.

Responding to a request to the Chief of Staff by the Commander, Army Materiel Command (AMC), the Management Directorate on 7 April 1975 formed a group to study the organization of AMC headquarters. Objectives of the study, which should be completed in July 1975, are to improve management and control of the materiel acquisition and logistics base and strengthen the working relationships between the Army staff, AMC, and other major commands.

The Department of the Army Management Review and Improvement Program was modified during the past year to identify and promote management practices that have paid the largest dividends. One of these, the Defense Integrated Management Engineering System, was responsible for savings of approximately $10 million in fiscal year 1975. And the Value Engineering Program generated savings of $135 million during the year.

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The Army word processing program expanded in fiscal year 1975, with 102 new systems approved during the program's second year of operation. The cost of equipment for the new centers was $638,000, with projected annual personnel savings of $2 million. By the end of the fiscal year, the Army was using more than 5,000 automated typing devices throughout the world.

Several improvements in micrographics management were made during the year. More than 100 new microfilm systems were approved with annual savings or cost avoidance of about $2.3 million. Publication in November 1974 of MIL-STD-399, Microform Formats, permitted more use of microfilm production and viewing equipment within the Army and other services. Change 1 to AR 340-22 established on 15 February 1975 major policy concepts in the microforms program such as a microforms systems classification and a requirement for Army staff agencies and major commands to designate micro­form management officers.

A survey of Army staff military and civilian personnel revealed that 73 percent of the 1,500 participants were satisfied with their job, 24 percent were not, and 3 percent had no opinion. Civilians were slightly less satisfied than their military coworkers. Organizational efficiency was rated positive by 59 percent, 37 percent rated it negative, and 4 percent registered no opinion. A view that the staff environment had improved during the past year was expressed by 42 percent, 48 percent thought it had not, and 10 percent had no opinion. Steps have been taken to correct problems uncovered in this survey.

A simpler and less formal staffing process resulted from a recent revision of Department of the Army Memorandum 340-15. The Summary Sheet was replaced with the Decision/ Information Memorandum and signature and coordination authority was delegated to the lowest possible level.

Management of data processing installations that serve Headquarters, Department of the Army, came under increased scrutiny during the year. Duplication of services has been reduced, and coordination between installations has increased. Much of the computer workload of the Deputy Chief of Logistics was transferred from Radford, Virginia, to the Army Management Systems Support Agency in the Pentagon. Modernization of computers at the Military Personnel Center—Project 70X—was completed in May 1975 with acceptance of the last of eight UNIVAC 1108 central processing units.

Use of the Base Operating Information System (BASOPS),

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the Army's first multicommand and multifunctional computer system, was extended to a new location during the year, but was eliminated from two other installations because of reduced activity. By the end of 1974 the Standard Installation/Division Personnel System, the latest BASOPS personnel module, had replaced the Military Personnel Accounting Subsystem at all Army installations.

By the close of fiscal year 1975, the Standard Army Intermediate Level Supply Subsystem (SAILS) had been ex­tended to twenty Army installations within the United States. Work proceeded to correct a number of deficiencies at installations where it had been installed and on expanding SAILS to accommodate overseas and medical requirements.

The Army Forces Command recommendation that the Combat Service Support System (CS₃) be extended to all sixteen active Army divisions was approved by the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management) in July 1974. The extension of CS₃ should be completed by June 1977 and will bring such software packages as the Standard Installation/ Division Personnel System, the interim Division Logistics System, and the Maintenance Reporting and Management System to all the divisions.

The Army Authorization Documents System (TAADS) was extended to the National Guard Bureau; Headquarters, U.S. Army, Japan; and Headquarters, Eighth Army, during the past year. In May 1975 work began on determining the requirements for extending TAADS to the installation level. Progress was made in documenting fiscal year strength positions before the year began: eighty percent of the documentation for fiscal year 1976 was in by 30 June 1975, with the remaining twenty percent expected by 30 September 1975.

In February 1975 the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) selected the Standard Army Civilian Payroll System as the base system for developing the Department of Defense Standard Civilian Payroll System. A working group, chaired by the Army with representatives from the Navy, Air Force, Defense Supply Agency, and National Security Agency, began meeting in March to mold the Army system into one that met the requirements of all.

During the past year several improvements were made in the Standard Finance System for appropriated fund accounting at the installation level. These refinements included the addition of a cost distribution capability and the inclusion of an

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expenditure reporting capability that permits the system to tie in with the Comptroller of the Army database.

The Program Optimization and Budget Evaluation System entered the third year of development. Major attention centered on the design and structure of a subsystem that will provide alternative allocations of Army resources following changes in fiscal guidance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

The Army's Commercial and Industrial-Type Activities (CITA) Program implements a national policy of maximum reliance on private enterprise for products and services needed by federal departments and agencies. During fiscal year 1975, 153 persons attended the Department of Defense Commercial and Industrial-Type Activities training course conducted at the Army Logistics Management Center, Fort Lee, Virginia. The 2,646 CITA functions reported for the year represented a capital investment of $4.663 billion and an annual operating cost of $1.75 billion. Major commands submitted 82 new start requests, of which 31 were approved, 3 were disapproved, 8 remained under review, and 40 were returned for more justification.

The Army's budget request for fiscal year 1975 totaled $22,879.6 million in total obligational authority (TOA). Following reviews by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget, the President requested $23,168.7 million for the Army; the Congress appropriated $21,104.5 million. A fiscal year 1975 supplemental appropriation, together with reprogramming actions and transfers, in­creased the Army's TOA to $21,577 million. The table that follows traces the chronological development of the fiscal year 1975 budget.

The Comptroller of the Army coordinates the preparation of the Army Management Structure (AMS), which is a frame­work for coordination of programming, budgeting, accounting, manpower control, and technical data reporting by a standard classification of activities and functions. The large number of accounts within the management structure has caused undue burdens in accounting, budgeting, and reporting in the field.

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CHRONOLOGY OF THE FISCAL YEAR 1975 BUDGET
DIRECT BUDGET PLAN (TOA)
(in millions of dollars)

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To alleviate the situation, the Comptroller of the Army has sought to reduce the amount of detail in the AMS. Appropriations with the greatest number of accounts such as Operation and Maintenance, Army (OMA) and Operation and Maintenance, Army Reserve (OMAR), received special attention. Close coordination with appropriation and program directors resulted in the elimination of over 500 OMA accounts, a 28 percent reduction, and over 200 OMAR accounts, a 61 percent reduction. Subsequent action on the Reserve Personnel, Army, appropriation resulted in a 35 percent reduction in the 51 subsidiary accounts that had been carried.

Work continued during the past year on developing Data Element Management/Accounting Reporting and the Comptroller of the Army Data Base System. Selected parts of the system were used in April 1975 to satisfy a Treasury Department requirement for earlier reporting of monthly collection and disbursement data.

A number of steps were taken during the year to develop more realistic cost estimates for weapons systems. Responsibility for validating cost estimates was realigned and attention was focused on full life-cycle costs—from development until the system is no longer used. To improve forecasts of cost for the Planning, Programming and Budgeting System, a better under­standing was developed of the relationship between the cost of weapons systems to total force costs. Expanding the data contained in the Force Cost Information System was another improvement.

In other financial management matters, the Directorate of Finance and Accounting in the Army Comptroller's Office was reorganized in January 1975. Its responsibilities for military pay, accounting system maintenance, and several other tasks were transferred to the Army Finance and Accounting Center. And the Productivity Enhancing Capital Investment Program was established to generate savings in operating costs by timely investments in capital tools and equipment. Its goal has been to exploit many "fast-payback" capital investment opportunities often lost due to administrative delays in the normal budgetary review and competition from higher priority mission requirements. During fiscal year 1975 a total of 186 of the program's projects, costing $4,500,579, produced estimated annual savings of $7,640,445.

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