FPS had a 21 percent job vacancy rate at the end of fiscal 2021, according to a DHS official. Image: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffIt is unclear how federal agencies responded to most building security recommendations made by the Federal Protective Service in recent years, GAO has told a House hearing.
It said that during 2017-2021 the FPS made some 25,000 recommendations involving some 5,000 facilities but the most common reaction from tenant agencies—or the facility security committees in buildings with more than one. Those recommendations most commonly involved operational and emergency plans and procedures for managing security threats; alarm and video surveillance systems; controls over who can access the building; security of potential entry points; and physical barriers.
A GAO official told the Homeland Security Committee that officials from more than two dozen agencies it interviewed generally “held positive views about the content of FPS security assessment reports.” But in asking agencies what was the outcome, GAO received no responses regarding 57 percent; 12 percent were rejected; of the 27 percent formally approved, most were closed without being implemented; another 4 percent had “other” outcomes.
Among recommendations documented as not carried out, reasons included uncertainty over how much the improvements would cost and lack of needed funds where the cost was clear.
The testimony added that as of the end of fiscal 2021, the FPS had a 21 percent job vacancy rate, including about 200 law enforcement positions. “FPS officials cautioned that as facilities return to pre-COVID operations, these shortages could affect FPS’s ability to carry out its responsibilities,” it said.
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