The Department of State holds or leases about 70-million square feet of real estate in about 275 posts worldwide and needs to improve guidance and records management, GAO has said.
State’s leased properties, which make up about 75 percent of its inventory, increased from about 12,000 to 14,000 from 2008 to 2013. GAO said owned properties increased as well, but that’s partly the result of a change in record keeping where more individual structures – such as guard booths – are being counted separately from the structures they are guarding.
Regardless, State’s available data and documentation on management decisions were limited, according to GAO-14-769.It said the departmentcollects data on costs associated with unneeded properties identified for disposal, relying on posts to charge all such costs to a specific accounting code. However, at four posts GAO visited officials charged some disposal costs to a routine maintenance account while others with properties for sale used the code to charge all related disposal costs.
State agreed with recommendations to clarify accounting code guidance for tracking expenses related to disposal of unneeded properties, as well as to take steps to collect and retain documents related to real property purchases, disposals, and leases in accordance with the Foreign Affairs Manual and OMB’s guidance.
