Federal Manager's Daily Report

GAO has identified several recommendations relating to property management and cybersecurity of facilities as high-priority items still pending resolution by GSA.

One recommendation seeks to decrease leasing costs by reducing expenses associated with new leases—specifically, that GSA should assess lending unobligated money in the Federal Building Fund to help cover the costs of making needed improvements to newly leased spaces. Another seeks to hold down extra costs related to custom building features under the GSA Design Excellence program by requiring GSA to more fully assess the initial and maintenance costs of such features before they are approved.

Two others relate to the long-running DHS headquarters consolidation project.

GAO also pointed to a recommendation that GSA and DHS consult with the private sector and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to assess the cybersecurity risks to federal facilities under NIST guidance.

GAO noted that several of the issues also are on its high-risk list, including management of federal real property, the security of federal information systems and cybersecurity in general.