Report: Facing a heightened threat landscape, agencies must be held accountable to responding to FPS assessments. Image: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA bill (S-3613) to require federal agencies to formally consider security recommendations made by the Federal Protective Service “would improve security for federal employees and members of the public who use federal buildings,” says a report from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that prepares the way for consideration by the full Senate.
The measure would require facility security committees in federal buildings to formally consider and respond within 90 days to security recommendations from the FPS, which typically involve measures such as security cameras, physical access control systems, screening equipment, and more.
The FPS in turn would monitor the responses and annually report to Congress; the FPS also would report to Congress on any surveillance technology it recommends for use in federal buildings.
“Facing a heightened threat landscape, agencies must be held accountable to responding to FPS assessments and doing all they can to secure their facilities,” says the report. It notes that under the bill’s provisions, agencies still could “choose to adopt or reject FPS recommendations” in part or in whole, although they would have to detail their reasoning.
The bill is a response to a 2023 GAO report finding of some 25,000 recommendations by the FPS over 2017-2021, 57 percent never received a formal response, 12 percent were rejected, 19 percent were closed without being implemented and the rest had other outcomes, including only 6 percent considered “implemented.”
GAO said that agency officials commonly attributed a lack of response to the difficulties in coordinating among agencies in buildings with more than one; turnover of officials sitting on the facility security committees; and the competing priorities of those serving on them. Officials mainly attributed lack of implementation to funding issues, including situations in which some agencies could have contributed their share but others couldn’t.
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