European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 17, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes thursday August 17,1989 mip under siege from lawmakers House cuts Model installation cheer leading by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington the Model installation pro Gram which Pentagon officials have praised As a valuable Cost cutting morale building tool Tor local commanders is under fire in Congress from Law makers who say the program s benefits Are exaggerated. In the mouse fiscal 1990 defense appropriations bit lawmakers called the program management by cheer leading and Cut All funding for it. The defense department had requested $7.9 million to cover administrative costs. The program launched worldwide in 1986, allows base personnel to submit ideas for cutting red tape and making it easier for local commanders to Man age their installations. Military officials have staunchly defended the pro Gram. A Pentagon inspector general draft report due out shortly said the program has resulted in sub Stantial Dollar savings and improved morale efficiency and readiness. But in a report accompanying its defense funding Bill the House appropriations committee said Mostof the changes made under the program arc cosmetic and any savings Are undercut by the program s sub Stantial administrative costs. The Model installation program mip is not a Cost savings program the committee report said. Col. Maurice Healy Deputy Community com Mander in Hanau West Germany is among com Manders who support the mip program. Hanau was one of Usa eur s first Model installations. From my perspective it is still a viable pro Gram he said. It allows a Soldier a Quick outlet to Sec an action that needs to be corrected. From his perspective when the system responds Back to him he sees an immediate change. It May be a minor change in somebody else s eyes but in the Guy s eyes who made the suggestion in is not an insignificant  More than 50.000 mip proposals have been submitted since the program began. But More than two thirds have involved simple changes in guidance is sued by previous commanders what the commit tee labelled general housekeeping ideas rather than meaningful Cost cutting proposals the report said. Pentagon officials asked to cite the most significant proposals almost without exception mentioned elimination of the requirement for a military Driver s License if a service member possessed a valid civilian License in said. Healy cited the example of a recent mip Sugges Tion in Hanau that seeded the process of getting military vehicles that were damaged in accidents Back on the roads. Before the proposal no vehicles could be repaired until a Survey officer was appointed an investigation completed blame assessed and paperwork pushed through channels a process that could take weeks. The mip suggestion resulted in mechanics being allowed to immediately repair vehicles that sustained less than $500 Worth of dam age in accidents. The committee also found that some suggestions May have used appropriated funds for recreational purposes and credited to non appropriated fund accounts the proceeds from the Sale of equipment and property purchased with appropriated funds. Certainly based on these findings the purpose of the program is quite suspicious the report said. Mip program officials when questioned by com Mittee members said benefits of the program arc difficult to quantify. They said the primary benefits arc of an intangible nature and generally relate to Elevation of employee morale through participatory management the report said. As a result the committee investigation found that claimed Dollar savings did not withstand the test of  Healy said the program allows communities to work More effectively and not every suggestion resulted in measurable financial savings. The report said however that program costs can be quantified including a Large mip administrative staff a Pentagon office two regional offices and More than 200 full time personnel. Indirect costs May be far greater the report said. The staff at All Levels devote countless hours coordinating and processing mip  in addition two mip conferences attended by about 350 people arc held annually for installation commanders. The report said a general officer who attended one of the sessions called it an example of fraud waste and  the mip is highly questionable since the de sense department cannot validate the benefits but continues to expend millions of dollars in administrative costs the report said. It directed the Secre tary of defense to abolish the program. Hanau administrative costs for running the pro Gram arc not overbearing since the person who handles mip proposals docs so As an additional duty Healy said. The Senate appropriations committee will not begin work on us version of next year s defense funding Bill until september. Once the full Senate approves that Bill the two appropriations commit tees will meet in conference to Iron out differences. Before the mip provisions could be included in the final defense funding legislation they would have to be approved by the Senate committee in that conference and then both houses of Congress. Contributing to this report staff writer Rosemary Sawyer in West Ger Many loss of erd no Billet bad news for fes goers by Steve Taylor Munich Bureau Munich West Germany with the tapping of the Oktoc rfcs s first Keg less than a month away Beer drinkers who Haven t planned ahead arc faced with the increasingly Lough task of find ing a place to stay in the Munich area. This year the task has become even tougher for . Service members who were hoping to bed Down at the Erding billeting facility on the Northern out skirts of Munich. The facility will close aug. 31, about two weeks before the festival opens sept. 16. Service members attending the traditional Beer bust Are losing the facility s 250 Beds because it needs a Complete renovation including a new heating sys tem and roof said facility manager Ute Blue. With limited funds available for such projects Blue said officials in the Munich military Community decided to of denies incident close the facility and turn it Back Over to the West German government. During the Granddaddy of Beer fists service members will be among the More than 1 million visitors to pour into a Varia for two weeks taking up hotel rooms within a 35 to 40-mile radius of Munich. Rooms Are sometimes booked More than a year in Advance by tour groups said officials at the Munich tourist of fice. Other visitors have standing reservations at area hotels from year to year a tourist office spokesman said wednesday that the office will help peo ple find rooms if it knows of any that Are available. However he said that All hotel rooms in the City were booked for the weekends. Some Are still available for weekdays. Although the closing of the Erding facility shuts off one available place to Steep . Service members still have other options. Some rooms arc still available during the midweek periods at the Munich american guest House at Mcgraw Ca sern. But weekends Are booked solid. As of this week some rooms also remained available at armed forces recreation Center hotels in Garmisch West Germany. Arc officials said that up tonight rooms were available in Garmisch depending on which Day was requested with four rooms being the average during the period. They cautioned that the availability changes hourly because of bookings or cancellations and suggested that service members Call each Day to find out what is available. Flint Cavern which is about 30miles South of Munich in bad Tolz had 15 rooms available As of tuesday at $10 to $13 a night during oktoberfest. However the rooms which Are like Barracks have a bathroom Down the Hall and Are limited to men Only billeting officials said. They also have three vip suites and four apartments available on a space available basis. The Augsburg military Community s 99-room guest House about so Miles Northwest of Munich normally can provide some space available quarters to visitors during oktoberfest. Officials suggested arriving promptly at 1 . On the Day a room is needed As space available rooms arc usually sold out quickly. Package Tours Are another option. Sato the new on Post travel Agency for the army will offer three weekend Tours this year. Officials could not quote prices on tuesday because rate cards had not yet been received. They said service members should Call 069 5601077 for More information. Et8 phone numbers Tor room information Are Munich american quest House. 4404011 or 7109 a fac Central reservations  e e ,440-2s7&bercr Tes Garton 441-5453 or sb23 a mems 441.2711 or Ems first Cavern 441-4890 and Augsburg guest House 434-7270.  Telephone number Lor the Munich tourist oct 0&9.23911. Reports say Al of barely missed Spanish Jet from staff and wire reports Zaragoza Spain four . Air Force a Ioa attack jets came dangerously close to colliding last week with a Spanish dc-9 Airliner carrying 50 Passen Gers the head of Zaragoza air traffic control said wednesday. But an air Force spokesman said there was no Inci Dent and that no near miss report was filed. The four a los were where they were supposed Tobe Safe spokesman Doug Moore told the stars and stripes. All four a los had the Avico dc-9 aircraft in sight at All  civil aviation air traffic control chief Francisco sae said wednesday that a nine Man investigating com Mission would study the incident and make Public report in six to eight weeks the associated press re ported. Air traffic director Antonio Yus told the a that  took place at midday aug. 10, when the . Jets were returning from a nearby training Range an the Avico Airliner was approaching to land. The civil Ian Airport at Zaragoza shares runways with the air Force on Zaragoza a. The Avico Pilot suddenly saw four a Ioa Jet coming at him at 5,000 feel and had to veer 60 degrees upwards at 2,000 feet per minute to avoid a collision Yus said. The Normal climbing Speed is 500 feet per minute. It was clearly a dangerous situation because neither the airline Pilot nor air traffic controllers had been informed or the jets flight and they were not in con tact with the Tower Yus said.  Moore said the Avico aircraft had mane Vered to maintain spacing from an air Force Kc-10 that was on final approach with permission to land at  s when he saw the a los he said. The a los were at an Altitude of 5,100 feet and Theav Iaco dc-9 was at approximately 4.000 feet Moore said. The a los never lost visual Contact with Theav Iaco aircraft.",a the anti tank aircraft were assigned to the 81st tac fighter Wing at Raf Ben Waters England. Contributing to Nils report Stilt writer Oary por Neroy