GSA reported having a $6.1 billion deferred maintenance and repair backlog in fiscal year 2024, up from $1.39 billion in 2017. Image: Hunter Bliss Images/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe GAO has again called attention to the issue of deferred maintenance in federal buildings, including that in an assessment of priority recommendations it has made to the GSA that remain pending.
“The Administrator of GSA should ensure that the administration develops a plan to address its deferred maintenance and repair backlog and identifies the funding and time frames needed to reduce this backlog in congressional budget requests, related reports to decision-makers, or both,” it said.
It said that the GSA reported having a $6.1 billion deferred maintenance and repair backlog in fiscal year 2024, up from $1.39 billion in 2017, but has not communicated “the amount of funding or time needed to address this backlog.”
“We recommended that GSA develop a plan to address the backlog and include it in budget materials. Implementing this recommendation could help decision makers understand how funding levels might affect GSA’s backlog and how to evaluate GSA’s budget requests,” GAO said.
The GAO and the inspector general’s office at the GSA have issued numerous reports in recent years calling attention to potential health and safety hazards in federal buildings, in many cases related to deferred maintenance.
Other priority recommendations to GSA in the latest report address other long-running issues regarding management of federal real property—which has been on GAO’s high-risk list since 2003—including the completeness and accuracy of data in GSA’s accounting of government-owned property and challenges in disposing of unneeded property.
Large Share of Federal Workforce about to Experience a Payless Pay Period
OPM Details Coverage Changes, Plan Dropouts for FEHB/PSHB in 2026
OMB Says Federal Workforce RIFs are Starting as Shutdown Drags On
Financial Impact of Shutdown Starts to Hit Home; WH Threatens No Back Pay
Surge of Retirement Applications Is in the Pipeline, Says OPM
See also,
TSP Takes Step toward Upcoming In-Plan Roth Conversions
5 Steps to Protect Your Federal Job During the Shutdown
Over 30K TSP Accounts Have Crossed the Million Mark in 2025
The Best Ages for Federal Employees to Retire
