Federal Sector Audits
Facilities Management and Repair, Renovation, Maintenance, and Construction Cost Management
Overall…”The federal government could better manage its real property, or real estate, portfolio by effectively disposing of unneeded buildings, collecting reliable real property data, and improving the security of federal facilities.” “Overall, the ratings for 20 of the 36 areas on our list are unchanged. Since our last update, 5 areas have regressed and 7 improved.” – GAO, 2021
Dedicated Leadership Needed to Address Limited
Progress in Most High-Risk Areas https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/gao-21-119sp.pdfFederal Real Property Asset Management:
Agencies Could Benefit from Additional Information on Leading Practices – GAO-19-57 – https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Agencies-Could-Benefit-from-Best-Practices.pdfFederal Government Cost Management Issues – https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/gao-22-105122-Federal-Government-Cost-Management-Issues.pdf
AOC – Architect of the Capitol – “GAO found that AOC’s cost estimating policies and guidance did not require a quantitative risk and uncertainty analysis nor the reporting of the resulting confidence level of the estimate. “https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AOC-Cost-Estimaitng-Issues.pdf
CAPITOL
- ARC H I T ECT o f t h e CAPITOL – PERFORMANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT FISCAL YEAR 2024 (unaudited)
DEFENSE REAL PROPERTY – https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/gao-22-104652.pdf
DOE – Department of Energy – “DOE has not had a policy that establishes standards for cost estimating in place for over a decade, and its guidance is outdated and incomplete, making it difficult for the department to oversee the development of high-quality cost estimates by its contractors.” DOE Lacks Efficient Construction Cost Estimating Capability
DOD – Defense Infrastructure: DOD Should Better Manage Risks Posed by Deferred Facility Maintenance 2022 – GAO-22-104481
- DOD has over 550,000 buildings and other facilities worldwide, with an estimated value of about $1.3 trillion.
- DOD’s goal is to fund at least 90% of its facility sustainment needs annually. Facility sustainment funding didn’t meet that goal in FYs 2017-2019 due to competing priorities. This contributed to DOD’s deferred maintenance backlog, which was at least $137 billion in FY 2020.
- To estimate the funding needed to sustain its roughly 550,000 facilities worldwide, the Department of Defense (DOD) uses cost factors that are comparable to those used by other selected federal agencies, including factors that account for geographic differences and inflation. (Note: The practice of using cost factors presents significant barriers to gaining cost visibility and enabling cost management.)
- DOD likely underestimates its annual funding requirements
- For fiscal year 2020, DOD reported deferred maintenance backlogs totaling $137 billion, and had yet to implement a Sustainment Management System (SMS)
DOD – Defense Health Agency (DHA) will need to address after it assumes responsibility for the sustainment, restoration, and modernization (SRM) of all military medical treatment facilities (MTFs) within the Military Health System (MHS) – Issues that the Defense Health Agency (DHA) will need to address after it assumes responsibility for the sustainment,restoration, and modernization (SRM) of all military medical treatment facilities (MTFs) within the Military Health System. (MHS). 2020.
DOD – Department of Defense – Action Needed to Increase the Reliability of Construction Cost Estimates
DOD – Department of Defense GAO-03-516 DEFENSE INFRASTRUCTURE Changes in Funding Priorities and Management Processes Needed to Improve Condition and Reduce Costs of Guard and Reserve Facilities
DOD – Department of Defense GAO-03-274 Defense Infrastructure: Changes in Funding Priorities and Strategic Planning Needed to Improve the Condition of Military Facilities (2003)
GAO is recommending that the Secretary of Defense direct the service secretaries to reassess the funding priorities attached to sustaining and improving their facilities. Also, GAO is recommending that the Secretary
- instruct the services to implement a consistent, departmentwide process to assess, rate, and validate facility conditions.\
- revise DOD’s facilities strategic plan to include detailed information on specific actions, time frames, responsibilities, and funding levels;
- clarify DOD’s guidance by specifying the organizational level at which its stated objectives should be achieved direct the services to develop comprehensive performance plans.
Related DOD Audits/Reports – 2021 – DEFENSE REAL PROPERTY DOD – Needs to Take Additional Actions to Improve Management of Its Inventory Data https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Defense-Real-Property.pdf , “‘Environmental Liabilities: Long-Term Fiscal Planning Hampered by Control Weaknesses and Uncertainties in the Federal Government’s Estimates” GAO-06-427, “Comprehensive Cost Information and Analysis of Alternatives Needed to Assess Military Posture in Asia”- https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/DOD-Comprehensive-Cost-Information-Needed.pdf
DOT – Department of Transportation – GAO-02-702T – “GAO found problems with the costs and oversight of major highway and bridge projects because cost containment was not an explicit statutory or regulatory goal. ”
PBS Is Not Effectively Tracking and Monitoring Building Studies Report Number A240084/P/6/R26002 March 6, 2026 – Office of Audits, Office of Inspector General, U.S. General Services Administration https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/PBS-Is-Not-Effectively-Tracking-and-Monitoring-Building-Studies-2026.pdf
GSA-PBS Northeast and Caribbean Region Not Overseeing Operations and Maintenance Contracts Effectively
Full Report – https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/A201046-Limited-Scope-OM-R2-Final-Report-508-for-issuance.pdf
Strategies to Renew Federal Facilities (2023) “The committee found the Builder system to be unsuitable for estimating renewal costs because of its limited scope and issues with its inspection and forecasting methods necessary to report anticipated annual maintenance and repair needs.” National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Strategies to Renew Federal Facilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26806.
GSA – General Services Administration – “These can be summarized into eight categories: breakdowns in communication, ineffective design reviews, costly foundation problems, inadequate testing and inspections, management control weaknesses, after-occupancy problems, delays in project approval and funding, and miscellaneous problems.” https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GSA-Problems-1.pdf
GSA has failed to meet challenges to establishing a comprehensive and effective system of
internal control and….
1. Establishing and Maintaining an Effective Internal Control Environment Across GSA.
2. Enhancing Government Procurement.
3. Maximizing the Performance of GSA’s Real Property Inventory.
4. Prioritizing Agency Cybersecurity.
5. Managing Human Capital Efficiently to Accomplish GSA’s Mission.
6. Safeguarding Federal Facilities and Providing a Secure Work Environment.
7. Managing Revolving Funds Effectively.
8. Implementing GSA’s Role Under the Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch.
Source: Assessment of GSA’s Management and Performance
Challenges-Office of the Inspector General https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Assessment_GSAs_Management_Performance_Challenges_FY2019-508-1.pdf
Federal Real Property: GSA Should Improve Accuracy, Completeness, and Usefulness of Public Data https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Federal-Real-Property-GAO.pdf
NSF – National Science Foundation – “the agency’s policies did not incorporate procedures on how NSF officials are to ensure that those estimates meet best practices.” https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/NSF-Construction-Cost-Estimating.pdf
VA Real Property: Enhanced Communication and Performance Measurement Could Improve Capital Asset Management GAO-22-103962
- The Department of Veterans Affairs operates one of the largest health care systems in the country. It owned 5,625 buildings and leased 1,690 more in FY 2020 to help provide this care. VA has a growing maintenance backlog and estimated that it needs $22.6 billion to correct facility deficiencies. It also needs to adapt facilities for changing veteran demographics.
- The VA doesn’t have measurable goals for how (facilities) conditions should improve over time—so it’s unclear whether its facility management efforts are meeting the VA’s needs.
- The VA should develop a set of performance goals and related measures based on key practices to allow VA to assess the performance of its capital assets and make any necessary improvements to its management of those assets. https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/gao-22-103962-VA-Real-Property.pdf
VA – Veteran’s Administration – “VA Real Property:
Preliminary Observations on Challenges Limiting VA’s Ability to Effectively Manage Its Assets” – “GAO’s key characteristics of an asset management framework state that effectively managing assets requires, among other things, maintaining leadership support that provides the necessary resources; a collaborative organizational culture; and a system for evaluating and improving asset management performance. However, GAO’s previous and ongoing work has found that VA continues to face challenges on these fronts. ” https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GAO-REPORT.pdf
“In recent years, we have highlighted VA’s higher than estimated spending on NRM (non-recurring maintenance, and the agency’s budget estimates.”
Related Reports –
Veterans’ Health Care Budget: Transparency and Reliability of Some
Estimates Supporting President’s Request Could Be Improved.
GAO-12-689. Washington, D.C.: June 11, 2012.
VA Health Care: Estimates of Available Resources Compared with Actual
Amounts. GAO-12-383R. Washington, D.C.: March 20, 2012.
Veterans Affairs: Issues Related to Real Property Realignment and
Future Health Care Costs. GAO-11-877T. Washington, D.C.: July 27,
2011.
VA Health Care: Need for More Transparency in New Resource
Allocation Process and for Written Policies on Monitoring Resources.
GAO-11-426. Washington, D.C.: April 29, 2011.
VA Real Property: Realignment Progressing, but Greater Transparency
about Future Priorities Is Needed. GAO-11-521T. Washington, D.C.:
April 5, 2011.
VA Real Property: Realignment Progressing, but Greater Transparency
about Future Priorities Is Needed. GAO-11-197. Washington, D.C.:
January 31, 2011.
Veterans’ Health Care: VA Uses a Projection Model to Develop Most of
Its Budget Estimate to Inform President’s Budget Request. GAO-11-205.
Washington, D.C.: January 28, 2011.
VA Health Care: Overview of VA’s Capital Asset Management.
GAO-09-686T. Washington, D.C.: June 9, 2009.
VA Health Care: Challenges in Budget Formulation and Issues
Surrounding the Proposal for Advance Appropriations. GAO-09-664T.
Washington, D.C.: April 29, 2009.
VHA Should Improve Activation Cost Estimates and Oversight ,“VA’s estimates substantially met one, and partially or minimally met three of the four characteristics associated with reliable cost and schedule estimates.” https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/VA-Cost-Estimating-Issues-Continue.pdf, VA REAL PROPERTY Clear Procedures and Improved Data Collection
Could Facilitate Property Disposals, “Better management of VA’s large inventory of aged capital assets could result in savings that could be used to enhance health care services for veterans.” https://4bt.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Overview-of-VAs-Capital.pdf