GAO: Administration must sustain progress on real property management

Federal agencies are making strides in management of real property, the Government Accountability Office told lawmakers on Wednesday. Nevertheless, the challenges that led real property management to be placed on GAO's high-risk list remain and the new administration must ensure continued progress, the watchdog agency added. In an update for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, GAO said that in response to an Office of Management and Budget initiative and related executive orders, agencies have established plans for managing real property assets, standardized data and adopted performance measures. According to OMB, the federal government disposed of excess real property valued at $1 billion in fiscal 2008 alone. OMB also reported success in developing a comprehensive database of real property and implementing GAO recommendations to improve the reliability of information in the database.

The Bush administration made enhancing real property management part of the President's Management Agenda. As such, OMB tracked progress at the agency level with a traffic-light-style score card. Ten of the 15 agencies evaluated achieved green status -- the highest possible mark -- for the first quarter of fiscal 2009.

Despite this progress, GAO reported that the long-standing problems that led real property management to be placed on its high risk list in 2003 persist.

"As we have reported as part of the high-risk series, the federal real property portfolio largely reflects a business model and the technological and transportation environment of the 1950s," GAO's director of physical infrastructure, Mark Goldstein, said in his statement to the subcommittee. "Many federal real property assets are no longer needed. Others are not effectively aligned with, or responsive to, agencies' changing missions."

An ongoing challenge is ensuring the General Services Administration effectively manages building leases. According to Goldstein's statement, one of the major reasons GAO designated federal real property as a high-risk area was the government's overreliance on costly leasing. GAO has repeatedly reported that building ownership generally costs less than operating leases, especially for long-term space needs. Nevertheless, GSA leased more property than it owned in 2008, a first for the agency.

Other persistent difficulties include unreliable data, underutilized and excess property, repair and maintenance backlogs, and ongoing security challenges agencies face -- particularly the Federal Protective Service, which is charged with overseeing the safety of government buildings.

GAO has said the Bush administration's addition of real property to the PMA and executive orders on real property management provided a good foundation for addressing these long-standing problems.

The agency told lawmakers that OMB is working with administration officials to assess overall real property priorities and establish a roadmap for further action.

"While reforms to date are positive, the new administration and Congress will be challenged to sustain reform momentum and reach consensus on how the ongoing obstacles should be addressed," Goldstein stated.