In 2012 NGA determined that a new NGA West would best meet the  agency’s mission and resource needs. These  broad sets of criteria, referred to as “evaluation factors,” were mission,  security, development and sustainability, schedule, cost, and  environment. 2. The NGA Director selected the St. Louis City site as the agency-preferred  alternative. NGA’s AOA Process for Selecting the New NGA West Site Substantially Met Three and Partially Met One Characteristic of a High-Quality, Reliable AOA Process but Lacked Important Cost Information

		Site Selection Process Substantially Met Three of the Four Characteristics for a High-Quality, Reliable AOA Process but Could Have Been Strengthened

We compared NGA’s AOA process for selecting a site for the new NGA  West campus to our AOA best practices and determined that NGA’s  process substantially met three and partially met one characteristic of a  high-quality, reliable AOA process. NGA and Corps of Engineers officials said that they  are in the process of developing full life-cycle cost estimates for the  construction and design of the new NGA West campus, for the agency- preferred alternative. Site Selection Process Only Partially Met the Characteristic for a Credible AOA Because It Lacked Important Information on Cost Risks and Sensitivities

NGA’s AOA process for selecting the site for the new NGA West campus  partially met the credible characteristic for an agency’s AOA process. However, NGA did not fully include key information on either the risk or  the uncertainty related to cost estimates or the sensitivity to the costs and  benefits identified as part of its AOA process. Although NGA’s AOA process did not reflect all of the characteristics of a  high-quality process, we are not making recommendations in this report,  in part because NGA plans to conduct additional cost analysis and in part  because we made an applicable recommendation to DOD in 2016. Further, we continue to believe that our September 2016  recommendation that DOD develop guidance requiring the use of AOA  best practices for certain military construction decisions could help ensure  that future AOA processes conducted by DOD agencies like NGA are  reliable and that agencies identify a preferred alternative that best meets  mission needs. Agency Comments and Our Evaluation

We provided a draft of this report of this report to NGA for review and  comment. In comments on our report, NGA stated that it valued our assessment of  its AOA process, which we judged to have substantially met the  characteristics of a well-documented, comprehensive, and unbiased  process, and would use our findings to continue to refine and improve its  corporate decision making and processes. NGA raised a concern about our assessment that its AOA process used  to select the site for its new NGA West project partially met the best  practices that demonstrate a credible process. While NGA may have concluded that the project’s cost was not  the most important factor, the agency estimates that construction of the  campus will cost about $945 million and NGA used the cost estimate as a  determining factor to select from the four final alternatives. Appendix I: Analysis of Alternatives (AOA) 22 Best Practices with GAO’s Evaluation of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) AOA Process and Scores

In our earlier discussion of the extent to which NGA’s AOA process met  best practices for such processes, we presented our analysis for specific  best practices.
Why GAO Did This Study

NGA, a defense agency and element of the Intelligence Community, provides geospatial intelligence to military and intelligence operations to support national security priorities. It currently operates out of two primary facilities—its headquarters in Springfield, Virginia, and its NGA West campus in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2012, NGA determined that a new location for its NGA West facilities was necessary to meet security standards and better support its national security mission. NGA estimates that the construction of the new campus will cost about $945 million.
GAO was asked to evaluate the AOA process that NGA used to select the site for its new campus. This report (1) describes the process NGA used, including the key factors it considered and (2) evaluates the extent to which the AOA process met best practices for such analyses.
GAO visited the existing NGA West campus and the final four alternative sites that were considered, analyzed and assessed reports and information that document NGA's AOA process for selecting the site, and interviewed relevant officials about the process. GAO evaluated NGA's process against best practices identified by GAO as characteristics of a high-quality, reliable AOA process.

What GAO Found

In 2012, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) began an analysis of alternatives (AOA) process to evaluate potential sites for its new NGA Campus West (NGA West) using key evaluation factors related to mission, security, development and sustainability, schedule, cost, and environment. NGA's process included levels of analysis and considerations to select the agency-preferred alternative from an original list of 186 potential sites, subsequently narrowed to the final four alternative sites (see figure). The process culminated in the June 2016 selection of the agency-preferred alternative, the St. Louis City site.
NGA's process for selecting a site for the new NGA West campus substantially met three of the four characteristics of a high-quality, reliable AOA process. Specifically, NGA's process substantially met the characteristics that demonstrate a well-documented, comprehensive, and unbiased AOA process. It partially met the credibility characteristic, in part because it did not fully include information on the risks and sensitivities to cost estimates. NGA officials stated that there was no comprehensive DOD guidance to inform its AOA process, and although NGA's AOA process is complete, NGA plans to develop full cost estimates as part of construction, planning, and design. In September 2016, GAO recommended that DOD develop guidance for the use of AOA best practices for certain types of military construction decisions. While DOD did not concur and the recommendation remains open, GAO continues to believe such guidance would help ensure that future AOA processes are reliable and would result in decisions that best meet mission needs.

What GAO Recommends

GAO is not making recommendations to NGA. In commenting on a draft of this report, NGA expressed concerns about GAO's assessment of NGA's estimates of cost risks and sensitivities. GAO continues to believe its assessment accurately reflects NGA's process.