The federal government has undertaken efforts to achieve cost savings associated with better management of excess and underutilized properties, but some of these efforts have been discontinued and potential savings for others are unclear, GAO has said.
So far, the White House has waged a campaign to expedite the disposal of underused or excess property and achieved mixed results. OMB has set up a Federal Real Property Council to drive the effort and GSA manages the council’s database, but the council has not followed sound data collection practices in designing and maintaining it, according to GAO-12-645.
It said for example that the FRPC has not ensured that key data elements – including buildings’ utilization, condition, annual operating costs, mission dependency, and value – are defined and reported consistently and accurately.
GAO identified inconsistencies and inaccuracies at 23 of the 26 locations visited related to these data elements.
As a result, FRPC cannot ensure that FRPP data are sufficiently reliable to support sound management and decision making about excess and underutilized property.
Five agencies GAO reviewed have taken actions to get rid of and better manage properties but they still face challenges including high disposal costs, meeting legal requirements for disposal, stakeholder resistance and in some cases remote property locations.
The report calls for a long-term national strategy to support better management of excess and underutilized property by, among other things, defining the scope of the problem, clearly addressing achievement goals, addressing costs, resources, and investments needed, and clearly outlining roles and coordination mechanisms across agencies.
GSA agreed to consult with the council to develop a plan to improve the FRPP.
