National Science Foundation headquarters in Alexandria, Va. Image: JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock.com
An inspector general report on the National Science Foundation has focused on a problem common across federal agencies with shedding outdated property.
It said that since 2008, the NSF has completed, or is in the process of, divesting itself of six major research vessels and the same number of major facilities. Those actions include not only complete removal from the agency’s inventory but also partially or completely transferring them to another entity’s control.
The IG said that while the NSF has some processes in place, “we found NSF had not planned divestment for the older facilities we reviewed; did not ensure divestment cost estimates were reasonable for some of the major facilities in our sample; and did not provide Congress full life-cycle cost information as required.”
In addition, in some cases where the NSF was considering divesting a facility, “external interests influenced” an ultimate decision to not do so.
It said the agency agreed with recommendations including that it develop an agency-wide view of major facilities and a process to assess their full life-cycle costs and clearly define standards for deciding when to divest facilities.
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