'Passback guidance'

The White House Office of Management and Budget is slated to give DOD its "passback guidance" for fiscal year 2017 topline budget numbers as early as next Monday, according to Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord.

McCord made the remark yesterday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, adding that the FY-17 submission is expected to occur on time in the second week of February. As Inside Defense reported:

"It's crunch time, for sure," he said. "We have a couple of issues to finalize -- the European Reassurance Initiative is one, as well as the particulars of OCO funding."

[CSIS defense budget analyst Todd] Harrison, who closely analyzes the Pentagon's OCO budget, told Inside Defense he believes that "a significant increase in ERI would mean raising it to an annual level of $2 [billion] or $3 billion."

McCord said, however, that DOD is concerned that its new budgetary commitment for the ERI remains in the department's OCO account, which is not meant to be a permanent part of the budget.

He noted that the BBA arrangement -- which sets $58.8 billion as the "floor" for the department's OCO spending in FY-16 and FY-17 -- would expire at the end of the next fiscal year.