The audit sampled 36 leases with a cost of $165 million annually out of the total of 7,700 and $5.6 billion annually. Image: Bennian/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffAn inspector general report has called on GSA to more closely monitor “periodic” services—basic cleaning and maintenance, repainting, window washing, carpet replacement and so on— in leases it oversees for other agencies, saying that “tenant agencies are not receiving the periodic services they are paying for.”
The report found that GSA lease administration managers, or LAMs, “did not consistently verify the timely completion of periodic services. LAMs also did not comply with PBS’s requirement to coordinate with tenant agencies and the lease contracting officer to negotiate cost savings when the tenant agency waives substantial periodic services.”
“In addition, LAMs did not always maintain required documentation showing the schedule of periodic services. Overall, we found that PBS is not providing effective oversight of the lease management program to ensure tenant agencies are receiving the periodic services they are paying for,” the auditors said.
The audit sampled 36 leases with a cost of $165 million annually out of the total of 7,700 and $5.6 billion annually. It found that LAMs did not ensure that periodic services were completed timely in 19 of them; problems included failure to meet schedules to replace carpeting in nine and to conduct regular shampooing in eight and regular painting in four. Also, LAMs did not maintain updated schedule of periodic services in 23 cases.
Further, where tenant agencies determined that such services were not needed—for example, that a carpet did not need to be replaced as scheduled—LAMs in some cases were unaware that the government could seek a rent reduction, said the report.
The report said that GSA management agreed with its recommendations and noted that since the audit began the agency has required new training LAMs.
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