GAO: Only about 12 percent of 2.9 million items declared as excess over 2016-2020 with a total value of $32.8 billion, got repurposed. Image: Katherine Welles/Shutterstock.com
A bipartisan bill newly offered in the Senate (S-2866) seeks to spur greater reuse within the government of “personal property”—items such as computers, office equipment and vehicles—that declared surplus by an agency.
Introduction of the bill by the chair and ranking Republican of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Sens. Gary Peters of Michigan and Rand Paul of Kentucky, follows several reports criticizing the program as underused, leading to wasteful spending.
Among other things, the bill would increase scrutiny by requiring agency reports on excess property to the GSA to be made available to the general public, require agencies to publicly report on their guidance on the use of excess personal property, and designate an employee to be responsible for searching through available excess personal property for items that meet agency needs.
Last year the GAO called for greater emphasis on the program, finding that of 2.9 million items declared as excess over 2016-2020 with a total value of $32.8 billion, other agencies had obtained about 8 percent of the number worth 12 percent of the value in that time.
The GAO’s report followed one by the inspector general at DoD finding that the military services could make fuller use of a similar internal DoD program for reusing excess property.
Separately, the GSA has proposed rules to increase the use by agencies of the similar exchange/sales authority, under which agencies can trade in used personal property and apply the value toward new versions.
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