Biennial Budgeting in the Department Of Defense: A Midterm Assessment With aComparison to Biennial Budgeting at the State Level

摘要

A major budget reform proposal that is being studied, and has been implementedwithin the Department of Defense (DoD) is biennial budgeting. The Fiscal Year (FY) 1986 Defense Authorization Act directed DoD to submit two-year defense budgets beginning in FY 1988. Although a relatively new development for the Federal Government, many State Governments have used biennial budgeting for years. Although budget size, scope, procedure, and form vary among States and between States and the Federal Government, certain successful attributes of biennial budgeting at the State level may be applied to biennial budgeting at the Federal level. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an overview and analysis of biennial budgeting within DoD and the Federal Government. This study examines the effects of biennial budgeting on the Department of the Navy's budget planning and implementation process and Program Objectives Memorandum development. The realized benefits and limitations of biennial budgeting since DoD became the first Federal agency to prepare two-year budgets are also explored. Biennial budgeting at the Federal and State levels are compared, including a discussion of relevant attributes of State biennial budgeting experiences that may be applied to the Federal Budgeting process.