Authority provided by law to improve existing military family housing units and ancillary family housing support facilities is authority to make alterations, additions, expansions, and extensions.

In this section, the term “improvement” includes rehabilitation of a housing unit and major maintenance or repair work to be accomplished concurrently with an improvement project. Such term does not include day-to-day maintenance and repair work.

Funds may not be expended for the improvement of any single family housing unit, or for the improvement of two or more housing units that are to be converted into or are to be used as a single family housing unit, if the cost per unit of such improvement will exceed (A) $50,000 multiplied by the area construction cost index as developed by the Department of Defense for the location concerned at the time of contract award, or (B) in the case of improvements necessary to make the unit suitable for habitation by a handicapped person, $60,000 multiplied by such index.

The Secretary concerned may waive the limitations contained in paragraph (1) if such Secretary determines that, considering the useful life of the structure to be improved and the useful life of a newly constructed unit and the cost of construction and of operation and maintenance of each kind of unit over its useful life, the improvement will be cost-effective. If the Secretary concerned makes a determination under the preceding sentence with respect to an improvement, the waiver under that sentence with respect to that improvement may take effect only after the end of the 14-day period beginning on the date on which the Secretary submits, in an electronic medium pursuant to section 480 of this title, to the appropriate committees of Congress notice of the proposed waiver, together with an economic analysis demonstrating that the improvement will be cost effective.

The limitation contained in paragraph (1) does not apply to a project for the improvement of a family housing unit or units referred to in that paragraph if the project (including the amount requested for the project) is identified in the budget materials submitted to Congress by the Secretary of Defense in connection with the submission to Congress of the budget for a fiscal year pursuant to section 1105 of title 31.

The amount that may be expended to construct replacement military family housing units under this subsection may not exceed the amount that is otherwise available to carry out the previously authorized improvement project.