Basing Options

The Air Force this week initiated an evaluation process to determine which base will host the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center -- a new organization that will consolidate all major command installation management functions under Air Force Materiel Command and eliminate 923 staff positions across the service.

According to a Sept. 16 Air Force press statement, 10 bases are currently being assessed for suitability against a selection criteria approved by the chief of staff recently.

The statement reads:

All [continental United States]-based MAJCOM headquarters, any CONUS installation with an existing installation support [field operating agency] with more than 50 authorizations and the National Capital Region will be evaluated as potential candidates to host the AFIMSC Headquarters. The 10 installations include Barksdale Air Force Base, LA; Ellsworth AFB, SD; Hurlburt Field, FL; Joint Base Andrews, MD; Joint Base Langley-Eustis, VA; Joint Base San Antonio, TX; Peterson AFB, CO; Scott AFB, IL; Tyndall AFB, FL; and Wright-Patterson AFB, OH.

The Air Force plans to narrow the field and identify candidate bases this fall ahead of a more rigorous evaluation to determine "preferred and reasonable alternative" sites by early 2015, according to the statement. Those sites will be included in the environmental impact analysis process.

The creation of the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center (AFIMSC) was announced in July along with the results of the Air Force's Management Headquarters Review, which identified 2,536 staff positions across the service's higher headquarters that will be eliminated.

Lawmakers from the states most affected by the headquarters reductions have already begun expressing their preference to host the AFIMSC headquarters within their districts. Members of the Virginia congressional delegation wrote to the Air Force secretary in July to push Joint Base Langley-Eustis as the best site because that base is being most affected by the reorganization and staff position reductions, with 742 positions eliminated there.

Along with assuming responsibility for installations management, the AFIMSC will be the parent organization to several field operating agencies.

The press statement identified those agencies as the Air Force Security Forces Center, Air Force Civil Engineer Center, Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, Air Force Cost Accounting Agency/Financial Management Center of Expertise, Air Force Financial Services Center and the Air Force Personnel Center Services Directorate.