FEDERAL REAL 

PROPERTY

Improved Data and a 

National Strategy Needed to 

Better Manage Excess and 

Underutilized Property

Statement of David Wise, Director 

Physical Infrastructure

Testimony 

Before the Subcommittee on Economic 

Development, Public Buildings and Emergency 

Management, Committee on Transportation 

and Infrastructure, House of Representatives

For Release on Delivery 

Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT

Monday, August 6, 2012

GAO-12-958T

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO
 

Page 1 GAO-12-958T 

Chairman Denham, Ranking Member Norton, and Members of the 

Subcommittee:

I am pleased to be here today to discuss the federal government’s efforts 

to collect data on its excess and underutilized real property assets and 

the need to better and more effectively manage these assets. In 2004, the 

President issued an executive order establishing the Federal Real 

Property Council (FRPC). The executive order required the FRPC to work 

with the General Services Administration (GSA) to establish and maintain 

a single, comprehensive database describing the nature, use, and extent 

of all real property under the custody and control of executive branch 

agencies, except when otherwise required for reasons of national 

security.1 The FRPC created the Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP) to 

meet this requirement and began data collection in 2005. Following the 

implementation of the executive order and nation-wide data collection 

efforts, we have reported that agencies continue to face challenges with 

managing excess and underutilized properties.2

My statement draws on our June 2012 report that addressed the extent to 

which (1) the FRPP database describes the nature, use, and extent of 

excess and underutilized federal real property and (2) progress is being 

made toward more effectively managing these properties.3 My statement 

highlights the key findings and recommendations of our report. Our 

review focused on five civilian federal real property-holding agencies—

GSA and the departments of Energy (DOE), the Interior (Interior), 

Veterans Affairs (VA), and Agriculture (USDA).4

 

1

Federal Real Property Asset Management, Exec. Order No. 13327, 69 Fed. Reg. 5897 

(Feb. 6, 2004). 

On the basis of the 

available data, these five agencies report approximately two-thirds of the 

building square footage reported by civilian agencies. To learn about the 

2

GAO, Federal Real Property: Proposed Civilian Board Could Address Disposal of 

Unneeded Facilities, GAO-11-704T, (Washington, D.C.: June 9, 2011).

3

GAO, Federal Real Property: National Strategy and Better Data Needed to Improve 

Management of Excess and Underutilized Property, GAO-12-645 (Washington, D.C.: June 

20, 2012).

4

We chose GSA, DOE, Interior, and VA because these agencies contained the largest 

total building square footage of all civilian real property agencies that are required to 

submit data under the executive order. We added USDA to our list of selected agencies 

because USDA reported significantly more excess properties than the other civilian 

agencies in 2009, the most recent data we had available at the time. 

 
 

Page 2 GAO-12-958T 

processes by which data on such properties are collected and submitted 

to the FRPP database, we obtained and analyzed the fiscal years 2008, 

2009, and 2010 FRPP submissions from these agencies and visited a 

nonprobability sample5 of approximately 180 buildings at 26 sites where 

excess or underutilized owned buildings had been reported by the five 

civilian agencies.6 In addition, we obtained answers to a set of questions 

about managing excess and underutilized properties that we posed to the 

senior real property officers of the selected agencies. We also interviewed 

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) staff because OMB chairs the 

FRPC, oversees the implementation of the executive order, and has set 

cost-savings goals related to excess and underutilized properties. We 

conducted our review from May 2011 through June 2012 in accordance 

with generally accepted government auditing standards. Additional 

information on our scope and methodology can be found in the June 2012 

report.7

We found that the Federal Real Property Council (FRPC) has not 

followed sound data collection practices in designing and maintaining the 

Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP) database, raising concerns that the 

database is not a useful tool for describing the nature, use, and extent of 

excess and underutilized federal real property. The FRPC has not 

ensured that key data elements—including buildings’ utilization, condition, 

annual operating costs, mission dependency, and value—are defined and 

reported consistently and accurately. For example, we documented 

buildings reported to the FRPP as underutilized even though they were 

fully occupied and we also documented others that were vacant but 

reported as utilized. We also saw severely dilapidated buildings that were 

reported as being in excellent condition. In fact, at 23 of the 26 locations 

visited, we identified inconsistencies and inaccuracies related to these 

 

5

Because this is a nonprobability sample, observations made at these site visits do not 

support generalizations about other properties described in the FRPP database or about 

the characteristics or limitations of other agencies’ real property data. Rather, the 

observations made during the site visits provided specific, detailed examples of issues 

that were described in general terms by agency officials regarding the way FRPP data are 

collected and reported. 

6

In the case of VA, which did not categorize any of its buildings as “excess,” we visited 

sites where buildings had been reported as “not utilized” or “underutilized.” 

7

GAO-12-645. 

The Federal 

Government Needs 

Better Data and a 

National Strategy to 

Improve Federal Real 

Property Management
 

Page 3 GAO-12-958T 

data elements.8

In addition to the various problems we found and documented with real 

property data, we also found that the federal government continues to 

face other challenges when managing excess and underutilized 

properties. The federal government has sought ways to generate cost 

savings associated with improving management of excess and 

underutilized properties. However, some of these efforts have been 

discontinued, and the potential savings for others are unclear. For 

example, in response to requirements set forth in a June 2010 

presidential memorandum for agencies to achieve $3 billion in savings by 

the end of fiscal year 2012, GSA reported approximately $118 million in 

lease cost savings resulting from four new construction projects. 

However, GSA has yet to occupy any of these buildings, and the 

agency’s cost-savings analysis projected these savings would occur over 

a 30-year period—far beyond the time frame of the presidential 

memorandum. Even though the cost savings achieved from efforts to 

improve property management are unclear, the five federal agencies that 

we reviewed have taken some actions to dispose of and better manage 

excess and underutilized property, including using these properties to 

meet space needs by consolidating offices and reducing employee work 

space to use space more efficiently. However, the agencies still face 

long-standing challenges to managing these properties, including the high 

cost of property disposal, legal requirements prior to disposal such as 

those related to preserving historical properties and the environment, 

stakeholder resistance, and remote property locations that are difficult to 

sell or dispose. A comprehensive, long-term national strategy would 

As a result, FRPC cannot ensure that FRPP data are 

sufficiently reliable to support sound management and decision making 

about excess and underutilized property. In addition to problems with data 

consistency, we found problems with collaboration and reporting issues, 

among others. For example, OMB, as the Chair of the FRPC, has not 

collaborated effectively with the agencies that submit FRPP data and may 

be requiring agencies to spend resources on data collection that is not 

useful. The agencies we reviewed expressed concerns about the data 

collection process, including the amount of data collection required, the 

time they are given to implement new data requirements, and the ability 

to collect data, as required, accurately.

 

8

Additional examples of inconsistencies and inaccuracies are highlighted in our full report.

See GAO-12-645. 
 

Page 4 GAO-12-958T 

support better management of excess and underutilized property by, 

among other things, defining the scope of the problem; defining goals to 

be achieved; addressing costs, resources, and investments needed; and 

outlining the roles and coordination mechanisms across agencies.

In our June 2012 report, we made two recommendations that would help 

the federal government improve excess and underutilized federal real 

property management.9

• GSA, in collaboration and consultation with FRPC member agencies, 

develop and implement a plan to improve the FRPP consistent with 

sound data collection practices, so that the data collected are 

sufficiently complete, accurate, and consistent; and

We recommended that:

• OMB, in collaboration and consultation with FRPC member agencies, 

develop and publish a national strategy for managing federal excess 

and underutilized real property.

In written comments on the report, GSA agreed with our recommendation 

and stated that the agency has taken specific actions to begin addressing 

this recommendation, including proposing reforms of the data collection 

process to FRPC. OMB agreed that real property challenges remain but 

did not directly state whether it agreed or disagreed with our 

recommendation. The details of OMB’s and GSA’s comments and those 

from other agencies we reviewed, as well as our response to these 

comments, are addressed in full in the report.10

Chairman Denham, Ranking Member Norton, and Members of the 

Subcommittee, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be happy 

to answer any questions that you may have at this time. 

For further information regarding this testimony, please contact David 

Wise at (202) 512-5731 or wised@gao.gov. In addition, contact points for 

our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found 

 

9

GAO-12-645. 

10GAO-12-645. 

GAO Recommended 

That OMB and GSA 

Take Action to 

Improve Excess and 

Underutilized 

Property Data and 

Management 

Contact and 

Acknowledgments 
 

Page 5 GAO-12-958T 

on the last page of this statement. Individuals who made key contributions 

to this testimony are David Sausville (Assistant Director), Russell Burnett, 

Keith Cunningham, Kathleen Gilhooly, Raymond Griffith, Amy Higgins, 

and Amy Rosewarne.

(542205)
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