Federal agencies waste millions of dollars on underused cars and
by mismanaging the federal aircraft fleet, the Government
Accountability Office has said in two new reports released by
Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Susan Collins,
R-Maine, and Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wis.
Many federal agencies are not able to justify the number of
vehicles they own given their mission needs, and agencies spend
nearly $1.7 billion each year to operate about 387,000 vehicles,
according to report GAO-04-664.
It said the Department of Interior Inspector General reported
potential savings of up to $34 million if a large portion of
Interior’s underutilized vehicles were disposed of.
“The Office of Government wide Policy is currently revising
the federal management regulation to require agencies to
appoint a central fleet manager with control over all aspects
of fleet management, including fleet budgets, which are now
generally controlled at the local level; establish utilization
criteria and periodically review fleet size; and fund a fleet
management information system,” said GAO.
