The Government Accountability Office has urged the Office of Management and Budget to support coordination between federal entities with independent leasing authorities to add information on the government’s portfolio of real property.
GAO said in a report published Wednesday federal entities that do not participate in the OMB-chaired Federal Real Property Council are not required to submit real property data to the General Services Administration‘s Federal Real Property Profile — an inventory of federal facilities.
The government watchdog said having partial information undermines FRPP’s oversight capacity for independent leases.
GAO surveyed 103 federal entities and 52 of them claimed to have independent leasing authority over 944 domestic offices and 164 warehouses as of October 2015.
Twenty-five of the 52 federal tenants with the authority are non-FRPC members and do not submit real property data to FRPP on 243 offices and warehouses that cost approximately $303.4 million in annual rent, GAO noted.
Auditors also found the average of all evaluated leases more than doubled GSA’s recommended 150 rentable square feet per employee for office space.
GAO recommended greater coordination and real-property management practices at FRPC in order to help federal entities meet space utilization targets.
