Issue Briefs

GSA, Interior, Energy, and HHS all reported increases in estimated deferred maintenance costs. Image: Mark Gomez/Shutterstock.com

Following is the key section of a GAO report finding that the backlog of maintenance in federal buildings has grown by 50 percent over four years to $76 billion and warning that even that figure might be underestimated due to issues with how agencies account for deferred maintenance.


Managing Federal Real Property has been on our High Risk List since January 2003. Our high-risk reports have consistently highlighted long-standing challenges that federal agencies face in: (1) effectively disposing of excess and underutilized property, (2) collecting reliable real property data for decision-making, and (3) improving the security of federal facilities from possible attacks.10 Deferred maintenance and repair contributed to the placement of federal real property management on the High Risk List in 2003 due to concerns with the state of deterioration of agencies’ assets and the size of their deferred maintenance and repair backlogs.11 In our 2011 High Risk Update, we found that federal agencies had improved their ability to manage their maintenance and repair backlogs and removed the management of facility condition as a high risk component. Specifically, we identified a number of actions agencies took, including conducting facility condition assessments, prioritizing repairs, and improving the definition of deferred maintenance and repairs. However, we did not assess whether these actions had resulted in a reduction in the government’s deferred maintenance and repairsand noted that some agencies continued to face challenges in reducing their maintenance backlogs.

More recently, we and others have identified continuing issues with the reliability and transparency of agencies’ reported deferred maintenance and repair data. For example, in September2021 we reported that the State Department may underestimate its deferred maintenance and repair costs. Similarly, a September 2021 GSA Office of Inspector General’s audit found that the accuracy of GSA’s reported deferred maintenance cost estimate was affected by data shortcomings and errors. We are conducting ongoing work reviewing selected agencies’ methods for collecting, reporting, and ensuring the reliability of deferred maintenance and repair data and prioritizing projects to address maintenance and repair needs.

Reported Deferred Maintenance and Repair Costs Increased About 50 Percent fromFiscal Year2017 through Fiscal Year2021;Selected Agencies Attributed the Increase to Multiple Factors

Civilian agencies’ reported estimates of deferred maintenance and repair costs increased from $51 billion to $76 billion (about 50 percent) from fiscal year 2017 through fiscal year 2021, according to data in agencies’ annual financial reports.

The four agencies we selected for review – GSA, Interior, Energy, and HHS – all reported increases in estimated deferred maintenance costs during this same period.

Officials from the four selected agencies attributed increases in reported deferred maintenance and repair costs to multiple factors. These include:

• Funding constraints. Officials from all four selected agencies said that maintenance funding had not kept up with costs and had led to increases in deferred maintenance and repairs. This factor constitutes an ongoing challenge for agencies. For example, GSA officials said that insufficient funding to meet their maintenance and repair requirements had resulted in increasing deferred maintenance and repair needs as well as deterioration in the condition of its portfolio of owned assets. According to GSA’s fiscal year 2023 budget justification, congressional appropriations for GSA’s Repairs and Alterations programs, which address deferred maintenance and repairs for assets under GSA’s custody and control, has consistently fallen short of GSA’s requests over more than 10 years. This condition, according to GSA, has contributed to increases in estimated deferred maintenance and repair costs. HHS officials observed that potential investments in facilities compete for funding with health care, science, and research, and that those other investments are often prioritized above investments in facilities.

• Maintenance and repair cost increases. Officials from three of four selected agencies said that deferred maintenance and repair estimates increased due to growing costs associated with aging and deteriorating assets and with increasing labor and materials costs. Rising costs pose a continuing challenge to agencies. For example, Interior officials said that the agency has many aging assets that are more expensive to repair and maintain as time goes on. This situation, combined with increased visitation on Interior’s federal lands, has led to accelerating degradation in the condition of assets and associated growth in maintenance and repair needs. Similarly, HHS officials said that aging and deteriorating facilities—including some Indian Health Service facilities that are more than 75 years old—have contributed to growth in HHS’s deferred maintenance and repairs. The officials also noted that factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as supply chain issues, may have contributed to increased deferred maintenance and repair estimates from fiscal years 2020 through 2021. In addition, Energy officials noted that increases in labor and material costs have contributed to recent increases in deferred maintenance and repair estimates.

• Deliberate deferral. Officials from two of four selected agencies said that they might deliberately defer some maintenance and repairs for reasons such as a lack of a current need for an asset or agency plans to replace the asset in the near future. Although agencies’ reported deferred maintenance and repair costs might increase as a result of this deliberate deferral, the increase does not necessarily indicate greater future maintenance and repair needs. For example, officials from DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation said that they had elected to defer some maintenance on spillway gates at Hoover Dam because the water level in the reservoir behind the dam had decreased enough that the agency was unlikely to have to use the gates to release water from the reservoir in the near future. Similarly, Energy officials said that a substantial amount of Energy’s estimated deferred maintenance and repairs was in facilities that were approaching their end of life with replacement facilities already identified. The officials said that this condition made it fiscally advantageous to continue deferring major repairs and replacements and only perform maintenance required to sustain the mission until the new facilities came online.

• Data collection changes. Officials from three of the four selected agencies said that new or changed methods for data collection led to increases in reported deferred maintenance and repair costs. These changes, while not necessarily increasing the actual amount of deferred maintenance that must be performed, may provide more accurate estimates of potential future costs and the government’s fiscal exposure. For example, Energy officials said that the main cause of an increase of about 35 percent in estimated deferred maintenance and repair costs from fiscal year 2018 through fiscal year 2019 was a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) initiative designed to improve the quality of its data on its assets. NNSA began using a new software application and updated information to calculate deferred maintenance and repair costs for its buildings. Officials said this new method led to about a $2 billion increase over previous calculations.

Similarly, Interior officials explained that an $8.8 billion increase in deferred maintenance and repairs from fiscal year 2020 through fiscal year 2021 was in part the result of the addition of design, compliance, and construction management costs to estimates at the National Park Service. Interior officials also attributed a $3 billion increase from fiscal year 2019 through 2020 to the implementation of a new system for evaluating the condition of roads at the Bureau of Land Management. The officials said that the implementation of this new system had improved the quality and completeness of the data on costs to maintain and repair these roads.

We have previously reported that similar changes in methodology for other agencies resulted in substantial changes in estimated deferred maintenance and repair costs. For example, State Department officials said their deferred maintenance and repair cost estimates increased from $96 million in fiscal year 2019 to $3 billion in fiscal year 2020 as a result of adopting a new methodology for determining its deferred maintenance and repair backlog.

Overall, the growth in agencies’ reported estimates of deferred maintenance and repair costs represents an apparent increase in the government’s potential fiscal exposure from ownership of its real property assets. Accordingly, it is important to understand how agencies’ methods of managing and reporting deferred maintenance affect the cost estimates of agencies’ maintenance and repair needs and the fiscal exposure represented by deferred maintenance and repair costs. In our ongoing work, we are reviewing selected agencies’ methods for prioritizing maintenance projects and for collecting, reporting, and ensuring the reliability of deferred maintenance and repair data.

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