Summary: In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense (DOD) General Terencio Sierra National Guard exercise in Honduras, to determine if funding for the exercise complied with the $200,000 construction limit.
GAO found that: (1) current law limits DOD authority to use operations and maintenance (O&M) appropriations to finance construction projects for material and equipment costs; (2) the total cost of the exercise was about $10.7 million; (3) the government of Honduras contributed about $190,000 worth of materials and petroleum products, while DOD funded about $115,000 in materials and equipment-usage costs; (4) although these costs exceeded the limitation, DOD stated that they were attributable to two separate construction projects and were within the funding limitation; and (5) recent congressional guidelines directed DOD to charge future projects to military construction funds rather than to O&M funds. GAO also found that: (1) there was no evidence that the National Guard trained Honduran forces during the exercise; and (2) the U.S. Armed Forces were not responsible for road maintenance after construction.
