In covert testing conducted by that the FPS, contract security guards failed to detect items such as pepper spray, a baton and a knife. Image: Foolish Productions/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe House has passed HR-3425, designed to strengthen oversight of contractor security guards who protect federally owned or leased buildings, including setting standards for the Federal Protective Service in conducting covert testing and “identifying root causes of failures, and categorizing types of vulnerabilities detected.”
The FPS also would have to “establish a mandatory, cause-specific corrective training and performance improvement plan for any contract security personnel who fails a covert test” and evaluate the personnel tracking system used to manage and monitor the deployment availability of contract security personnel.
Action on the bill follows a House hearing earlier this year focusing on a 2024 GAO report saying that in covert testing conducted by that agency, security guards failed to detect items such as pepper spray, a baton or a knife in 13 of the 27 tests. That rate was termed comparable to results of tests by the FPS, although details of those tests were not disclosed.
Managing federal real property has been on the GAO’s high-risk list since 2003, for reasons including security concerns, a GAO witness said at that hearing.
The House also passed HR-3424, to direct the GSA to collaborate with federal agencies regarding the use of shared-space arrangements in federally leased buildings.
That would include collaborating with tenants of federally leased space to better identify concerns around shared-space arrangements; developing criteria to facilitate space sharing; identifying how special-use space can be used to improve space sharing; and establishing measures to quantify the success of shared-space arrangements.
Both bills would require reporting to Congress on their implementation.
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