Comptroller General David Walker said in written testimony
for the hearing that “there is still a need for a
comprehensive, integrated transformation strategy for real
property to build on” executive order 13327.
The Government Accountability Office designated federal
real property as a high-risk area because of longstanding
problems — and Walker called for an “additional step of
developing a transformation strategy” to provide “a road
map of actions.”
The President signed the order in February 2004 after
adding the Federal Asset Management Initiative to the
President’s Management Agenda, and it requires senior
property officers to prioritize actions for improving
real property management, according to GAO-05-848T.
Walker added that a new federal real property council at
the Office of Management and Budget has developed guiding
principles for real property management and is developing
performance measures, a property inventory database and
an asset management planning process. He cited the
recently announced base realignment and closure schedule
as a way some agencies would make process addressing real
property problems.
However, Walker said it’s too soon to tell whether the
administration’s focus on this area would have a lasting
impact — and cited remaining obstacles such as “competing
stakeholder interests,” legal and budgetary “disincentives
to optimal, businesslike, real property decisions, and the
need for better capital planning among agencies.”
