[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 237 (Wednesday, December 10, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65069-65070]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-32308]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Defense Information Systems Agency
Notice of Availability of the Consolidation and Regionalization
Plan, Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), and Associated
Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Defense Information Systems
Agency (DISA) Defense Megacenters (DMCs) and Related Facilities
AGENCY: Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is announcing
that it has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) and issued a
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) relating to the consolidation
and regionalization of its 16 Defense Megacenters (DMCs) and related
facilities in response to recommended action from the Quadrennial
Defense Review (QDR). This action will result in reduced costs to the
Department of Defense (DOD) and improved operational efficiencies
without compromising service quality. This notice announces the
availability of the final EA and FONSI to concerned agencies and the
public.
ADDRESSES: Requests to receive a copy of the EA or FONSI should be
mailed to Defense Information Systems Agency, Public Affairs Officer,
701 S. Courthouse Rd., Arlington, VA 22204-2199. The documents may also
be picked up at the same address between the hours of 9 AM and 4 PM
EST, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays, by contacting Ms.
Betsy Flood at (703) 607-6048/6900. Arrangements must be made in
advance to pick up the documents, due to facility security
requirements.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Betsy Flood, Public Affairs
Officer, at (703) 607-6048/6900.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is a Department of
Defense (DOD) combat support agency under the direction, authority and
control of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control,
Communications, and Intelligence (ASD[C31]). One of DISA's mission
functions is to provide information processing support to the DOD,
services, and agencies. In response to the QDR and continuing pressure
to reduce federal spending, DISA has developed a proposal to
consolidate and restructure operations and reduce operating costs. As
input in the decision process of whether or not to implement this
proposal, an EA has been prepared, as required by the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The following provides a summary of
the proposal, the results of the EA and conclusions.
Proposed Action
The Proposed Action consists of the following:
a. Consolidate mainframe processing from 16 existing Defense
Megacenters (DMCs) into six facilities, five plus one Unisys legacy
processing site,
b. Establish self-sustaining, regional support centers at each of
the existing DMC sites with the exception of Sacramento, which is being
closed as part of a Base Closure & Realignment (BRAC) 1995 action,
c. Establish self-sustaining, regional support centers at four of
the remaining CONUS Storefront locations, closing others that are not
transferred back to the Services through other initiatives, and
d. Reduce overhead staffing and allow for consolidation of overhead
support functions.
These initiatives will hereafter be synonymous with the term
Proposed Action.
Purpose and Need
With implementation of the Proposed action, DISA intends to:
a. Implement the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) recommendation,
b. Reduce costs to DOD by improving operational efficiency, while
still providing equivalent or better service,
c. Consolidate mainframe processing into six standardized
processing sites, located at existing DISA occupied facilities, through
a transparent workload migration process,
d. Reorganize and reduce the management infrastructure needed to
manage computer operations under the Defense Working Capital Fund, and
e. Realize savings from more efficient operations already reflected
in FY98 and outyear budgets and most recent Program Objective
Memorandum (POM) submission.
Result of Action
Under the proposed action, mainframe processing will be performed
at the following six sites: DMC Columbus, OH; DMC Mechanicsburg, PA;
DMC Ogden, UT; Oklahoma City, OK; DMC St. Louis, MO and DMC San
Antonio, TX (Unisys legacy processing site).
The above sites and 13 additional sites would serve as regional
sites, with the requirements that workload fully supports the costs to
operate each site. The 13 additional sites are the following:
Bremertgon, WA; Chambersburg, PA; Charleston, SC; Dayton, OH; Denver,
CO; Huntsville, AL; Indianapolis, IN; Jacksonville, FL; Montgomery, AL;
Norfork, VA; Rock Island, IL; San Diego, CA and Warner Robins, GA
Alternatives to the Proposed Action
Two alternatives to the proposed action were assessed in this
study: The Outsourcing Alternative and the No-Action Alternative.
The outsourcing Alternative is based upon the Coopers & Lybrand
study titled `Strategy Options for Defense Information Services'
(February 1996) which represents a potential industry response to
outsourcing the mainframe processing workload of the 16 DMCs. This
alternative assumes that all DMC technical support and computer
operations functions would be contracted to a single commercial firm.
Each of the 16 DMCs would be contracted out in order to allow the
contractor to consolidate to six sites and achieve efficiencies. The
ten remaining sites would be closed.
The No-Action Alternative is considered to be continuation of
current
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DISA management of all existing DMCs, storefronts and other associated
facilities. This alternative includes the completion of optimization
and BRAC initiatives that are currently underway as well as actions
that are within the purview of DISA management, such as contract
consolidation and software standardization.
Summary of Environmental Impacts
The Proposed Action is unlikely to have significant impacts on the
environment, because DISA activities associated with each site
generally occur indoors in computer, data processing or office
surroundings. The operations have little, if any, interaction with the
human or natural environment. Analyses of potential economic impacts
demonstrated no meaningful change to the economic areas surrounding
each of the sites from the increase or decrease in DISA employment.
Findings and Conclusions
The analyses conducted for this EA support the determination that
there are no direct or indirect environmental impacts which should
preclude DISA from implementing the Proposed Action. The potential for
impacts resulting from DISA employment loss or gain is negligible in
each of the economic areas associated with this action. Therefore, no
mitigation is required or planned for the Proposed Action. Based on the
EA, a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is issued. Preparation
of an Environmental Impact Statement is not required for the Proposed
Action. This FONSI and the supporting EA fulfill the requirements of
NEPA, DOD directive 6050.1, and the Council on Environmental Quality
regulation implementing NEPA.
Beverly Sampson,
Chief Protocol Officer.
[FR Doc. 97-32308 Filed 12-9-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5000-03-M
