The Federal Protective Service, which provides law enforcement services for about 9,000 GSA facilities, faces operational challenges that hamper its ability to accomplish its mission, GAO has told hearings in both the House and Senate.
After conducting site visits at seven of FPS’s 11 regions and interviewing local law enforcement and officials at FPS, GSA, and tenant agencies, GAO said actions taken by FPS might not be enough to resolve its challenges.
FPS was folded into DHS in 2003, has an annual budget of about $1 billion and 1,100 employees and oversees about 15,000 contract guards.
However, from 2004–2007 FPS was stripped of about 20 percent of its workforce, something the agency has responded to poorly – diminishing security at GSA facilities and increasing the risk of crime or terrorist attack, according to GAO-08-683.
