The report cited biological growth and scaling on the cooling Tower at the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center. Image: Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffSome needed maintenance and repair work on federal buildings is done late or not at all, due to a combination of understaffing by companies contracted to do the work and “poor oversight” of those contractors by GSA, says the latest in a series of reports raising concerns about potential safety risks due to conditions in those buildings.
Contractors hired to do operations and maintenance work on mechanical, electrical, plumbing and other systems “did not complete all work orders for service requests and preventive maintenance. In some cases, O&M contractors marked work orders as complete even though the work was not actually completed. O&M contractors also did not complete work orders timely,” says the report from the GSA inspector general.
Those contractors “are not always providing sufficient staff to meet their contract requirements, are struggling to hire and retain key personnel, and are not effectively monitoring their contract performance.” Further, GSA Public Buildings Service contracting officers “do not always consult with PBS staff who are at the associated building to determine if the staffing the O&M contractor is proposing is sufficient.”
“We also found that O&M contractors and PBS are misinterpreting the time frames in O&M contracts for completing work orders for routine service requests and that PBS does not always provide effective oversight of the O&M contractors’ performance,” it says.
During fiscal 2023, PBS spent approximately $1.15 billion on 340 O&M contracts nationwide covering electrical systems and equipment, mechanical equipment, plumbing, HVAC and fire protection.
In a sample of 23 service request work orders and 26 preventive maintenance work orders at six federal buildings in six states, the IG found that contractors did not complete 34, even though in some cases the orders were marked as complete. They included:
* An air conditioner unit whose “coils were full of dirt and debris” despite a record of their having been cleaned since the time so much could have accumulated.
* Water leaking above an electrical control panel, which could “cause corrosion of electrical components, mechanical parts failure, short circuits, possible fires, and can shock someone who touches the cabinet.”
* “Green, biological growth and white scaling” on a cooling tower in a building’s HVAC system with “significant calcification caused by a lack of maintenance.”
* A delay of most of a year in a work order to replace a fan used to prevent electrical generators from overheating.
* A water tank used as a backup system in a building’s fire suppression system that is supposed to be checked every three years was in a condition showing that it had not had attention “in a long time”—with water too murky to inspect the tank for cracks from the inside; “possible debris in the dirty water could clog sprinkler heads making the fire suppression system ineffective.”
Those findings were consistent with past audits, including one from 2022 raising concerns about lack of maintenance of air handing systems in GSA’s own headquarters building, it said.
The IG said GSA management agreed with its recommendations to evaluate contractors’ proposed staffing and communicate with onsite PBS staff prior to contract award; ensure that contract language clearly specifies the time requirements for routine service request completion and that the requirements are communicated to O&M contractors; and strengthen oversight of contractors’ performance.
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