Federal Fleets: Overall Increase in Number of Vehicles Masks That Some Agencies Decreased Their Fleets
Released: 2012-08-02T00:00:00

Letter

Background

Although commonly used, the term “federal fleet” is a misnomer because there is no single entity that is responsible for all of the almost 660,000 civilian, Postal Service, and non-tactical military vehicles (about 449,000 excluding Postal Service vehicles) owned and leased by federal agencies. Instead, each federal executive agency is responsible for its own fleet. Furthermore, although some federal agencies may have a single, centralized fleet of vehicles, others’ fleets are decentralized and dispersed among multiple sub-agencies, bureaus, or divisions. In fact, the fleets at all of our four selected agencies consist of smaller fleets of vehicles that belong to various bureaus and divisions. (See table 1 for breakdown of fleets at selected agencies.)

Federal departments, agencies, and their contractors use vehicles— specifically non-tactical vehicles such as passenger cars, trucks (light, medium, and heavy), and special purpose vehicles (e.g., ambulances and buses)—to carry out their different missions. (See table 2.) For example, the National Park Service uses trucks to transport personnel and equipment to fight fires and the Veterans Health Administration uses passenger cars to transport veterans to and from Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care facilities to receive medical services. Agencies’ vehicles are often widely dispersed across the country and, in some cases, throughout the world. For example, the Air Force operates vehicles on bases in Europe and Asia, while VA’s fleet is spread across medical centers, national cemeteries, and other locations throughout the country.

Federal agencies and GSA have distinct responsibilities regarding federal fleets. Federal agencies are responsible for operating a fleet that enables them to fulfill their mission and meet federal energy and fuel efficiency requirements. Specifically, federal agencies are responsible for acquiring, maintaining, and managing their vehicles. GSA’s role is to develop guidance to help agencies manage their fleets, help agencies procure affordable vehicles, and provide reports on the federal fleet. In particular, GSA establishes policies and issues guidance to help agencies manage their fleets effectively and meet other federal requirements. GSA manages both the vehicle-purchasing and vehicle-leasing programs, thereby offering federal agencies an array of automotive products, including alternative fuel vehicles, sedans, light trucks, buses, and heavy trucks. In addition, GSA and the Department of Energy co-sponsor a Web-based data- reporting portal, in which agencies annually report information about the size and composition of vehicles, fuel consumption, and vehicle mileage. (See app. I for additional information about agencies’ and GSA’s roles and responsibilities.)

Federal laws, executive orders, and policy decisions have affected agency fleet size and composition. (See table 3.) For example, various statutes have been enacted requiring federal agencies to meet certain energy goals by reducing petroleum consumption and acquiring alternative fuel vehicles.

We have previously reported that in light of multiple and sometimes conflicting statutes, fleet managers often lack the flexibility and tools to meet the goal of reducing the federal fleets’ use of petroleum and its GHG emissions.issued in a piecemeal fashion and represent a fragmented rather than an integrated approach to meeting key national goals.

These statutes and executive orders were enacted and In May 2011, the President issued a memorandum regarding federal fleets’ performance directing all federal agencies to evaluate and report on their fleets to meet 2015 alternative fuel vehicle goals. At the time of our review, federal agencies were in the process of responding to the presidential memorandum by completing their vehicle allocation methodologies—a tool agencies are using to evaluate their fleets—and GSA was preparing to evaluate their responses.

The Number of Federal Vehicles Has Increased since 2005 with Fleet Changes Varying by Agency

Since fiscal year 2005, the number of federal non-postal, non-tactical vehicles has increased about 7 percent, from 420,382 to 449,444 vehicles.

The federal inventory of non-postal, non-tactical vehicles is dominated by a few agencies. In fiscal year 2011, the fleets of 8 federal agencies made up almost 80 percent of total federal vehicles, while 35 agencies made up the remaining 21 percent (fig. 2).

In addition to the size of their fleets, federal agencies’ changed fleet composition as well. Overall, federal agencies increased the proportion of their fleets made up of alternative fuel vehicles (i.e., vehicles that operate using an ethanol blended fuel, compressed natural gas, and batteries, among others) as opposed to conventional fuel vehicles (i.e., vehicles that operate on gasoline and diesel fuel) from about 14 percent to 33 percent from fiscal years 2005 to 2011. (See fig. 3.) The increase in the proportion of alternative fuel vehicles should not be surprising given that the Energy Policy Act of 1992 requires that federal agencies move toward acquiring mostly alternative fuel sedans and trucks.

One characteristic that did not change substantially over the period is the extent to which federal agencies owned or leased vehicles. In fiscal year 2011, federal agencies owned about 54 percent of their vehicles, leased about 44 percent from GSA, and leased about 2 percent from commercial vendors. These percentages remained fairly stable across the 7-year period.

Although the number of federal vehicles increased from fiscal years 2005 to 2011, not all agencies’ fleets increased—some agencies experienced a decrease in the number of vehicles, while others changed very little. Specifically, 8 of the 24 agencies with the largest numbers of vehicles decreased their fleets by at least 2 percent over the period. (See fig. 4.) Of the four agencies we selected for review, two increased and two decreased the number of vehicles in their fleet over the seven-year period. USDA and VA both increased the size of their fleets. USDA’s fleet grew about 5 percent and VA’s fleet grew about 49 percent from fiscal years 2005 to 2011. Over that period, VA experienced a net gain of 5,367 vehicles, which represents about 1 percent of all federal vehicles in fiscal year 2011. In contrast, the Air Force and Interior both decreased the size of their fleets from fiscal years 2005 to 2011. The Air Force reduced its fleet about 7 percent, experiencing a net loss of 4,111 vehicles, and Interior reduced its fleet about 9 percent, or 3,510 vehicles. Each agency’s fleet varied from year to year.

In addition, each selected agency increased the proportion of its fleet made up of alternative fuel vehicles. (See table 4.) Interior’s alternative fuel fleet grew 509 percent over the period with alternative fuel vehicles making up about 25 percent of its fleet in fiscal year 2011. VA’s alternative fuel vehicles made up about 52 percent of its overall fleet in fiscal year 2011, a larger proportion than any of the other three agencies.

Officials Identified Multiple Factors That Influenced Fleet Size at Selected Agencies

The fleet managers at the four agencies we selected told us that various factors have influenced changes in fleet size. (See fig. 5.) According to officials, USDA and VA increased the size of their fleets from fiscal years 2005 to 2011 to accommodate expanded programs and services, among other factors, while the Air Force and Interior reportedly decreased their fleet size in part by implementing measures to improve fleet management. Officials also identified fleet changes in subordinate bureaus and divisions, but in the two cases we learned of, they were not substantive enough to influence the direction of the agency’s overall fleet changes over the 7-year period. Further, agency officials stated that fleets did not increase as a result of vehicles procured using Recovery Act funds, because higher fuel-efficient vehicles replaced older, less fuel- efficient ones on a one-for-one basis.

USDA officials we interviewed told us that additional workload and program responsibilities contributed to the increase in USDA’s fleet size. From fiscal years 2008 to 2010, USDA’s Forest Service gained nine job corps centers from Interior Department bureaus: three from the National Park Service in 2008 and six from the Bureau of Reclamation from fiscal years 2009 to 2010.acquisition of additional vehicles ranging from sedans, vans, buses, and a variety of trucks to provide the approximately 200 new employees with the transportation and resources to accomplish additional program responsibilities. Since the job corps centers were located in or near national forests, they required vehicles, including buses that could evacuate staff and students in a short period of time in the event of a forest fire. Pick-up trucks were also acquired to take equipment to construction job sites as part of the vocational training. USDA officials also told us that specific subordinate agencies within USDA like the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) also acquired additional vehicles to accommodate an increase in the number of APHIS personnel and drivers to complete mission requirements.

Each of these job corps centers required the Similarly, VA officials told us that growth in veteran services has contributed to a significant increase in VA’s fleet size. According to VA officials, although the number of veterans declined overall, VA increased its program services to accommodate the increasing number of veteran health care recipients, including veterans with service-connected disabilities from fiscal years 2000 to 2011. (See fig. 6.) Further, VA officials indicated the agency has expanded a number of veteran services including: mental health care and counseling services, health care services to veterans returning from recent wars, home-based services to disabled and elderly veterans, and rural health care services in remote areas of the nation. According to VA officials, the increase in programs and services to veterans and service members and resulting workload placed pressure on the agency to increase its fleet size. For example, VA recently acquired more vehicles to provide transportation to and from VA health care facilities—including medical centers and community-based outpatient clinics—for veterans who require health care services but are not able to drive themselves.

Vehicles donated by veteran service organizations have also played a role—albeit a marginal one—in increasing VA’s fleet, according to VA officials. From fiscal years 2007 to 2011, the number of donated vehicles increased from 899 to 1,451. (See fig. 7.) Although the number of donated vehicles is small compared to the overall fleet, as of April 2012 there were 1,683 active donated vehicles, most of which belong to the Veterans Health Administration.

According to Air Force officials, the agency has had various fleet downsizing policies in place and has implemented some recent efforts to eliminate vehicles that are not mission critical. Officials also noted that the agency has often targeted unnecessary vehicles for cost cutting.

The Air Force has a zero growth policy prohibiting new vehicle purchases except when a change in mission occurs (i.e., additional aircraft assigned, new weapon systems deployed, new units assigned to a base, etc.). Air Force officials also told us that senior fleet management staff closely monitors any request to increase fleet size and determines if existing vehicles can be re-assigned to cover new mission needs.

The Air Force takes steps to ensure that the agency is authorizing the minimum number of vehicles necessary to support current mission requirements by conducting in-person visits to major commands and installations. The agency uses these in-person visits to monitor requests to not only acquire new but also retain existing vehicles; then it uses the information to identify and eliminate unnecessary vehicles.

In March 2007, the Air Force issued guidance limiting midsize to large sedans and sport utility vehicles to only four star officers in an effort to reduce overall vehicle ownership costs.

In January 2011, the Air Force audited various installations and found that 379 vehicles were utilized less than 30 percent of agency vehicle utilization goals. The agency subsequently removed these under- utilized vehicles, a move that, according to Air Force officials, resulted in a one-time savings to the Air Force of about $1.8 million. Officials reported that they will continue these efforts.

In August 2011, the agency identified over 6,000 underutilized vehicles that, if eliminated, could save the Air Force an estimated half a billion dollars or more in procurement and leasing costs. Since August 2011, the Air Force has eliminated approximately 739 vehicles, comprised of a mix of GSA-leased and agency-owned vehicles, according to Air Force officials.

Similarly, according to Interior officials, specific bureaus within the agency have implemented fleet downsizing efforts by identifying under-utilized vehicles and either disposing or re-locating vehicles across the bureau.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM)—a bureau within Interior that administers federal lands—has implemented downsizing efforts by identifying non-essential GSA-leased vehicles for removal and transferring under-utilized agency-owned vehicles to other bureau offices. According to Interior officials, BLM requires its fleet managers to monitor the utilization of its vehicles within the past 12 months to ensure each vehicle is justified and properly utilized. As a result of these fleet downsizing efforts, from fiscal years 2003 to 2008, BLM reduced miles traveled by more than 5-million miles and saved almost $3.4 million, according to Interior officials.

Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fleet personnel also regularly examines vehicle utilization rates—such as vehicle miles driven per hour—to ensure vehicles are meeting agency goals. The bureau also identifies old and least-utilized vehicles annually. According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials, the bureau removed 451 vehicles from its vehicle fleet from fiscal years 2007 to 2010.

In addition to fleet downsizing efforts, two agencies expect current cost- savings measures will play a role in reducing the number of vehicles in the future. Both Air Force and Interior anticipate decreasing their fleet size and realizing immediate cost savings by returning GSA-leased vehicles.

For example, although the Air Force has returned some vehicles back to GSA, thus decreasing the Air Force’s fleet size, the agency continues to implement further reductions to its GSA-leased fleet in order to meet a $10-million cut in vehicle-leasing funds in the agency’s planned 2013 defense budget. Similarly, in a department-wide campaign to cut waste, Interior’s National Park Service plans to return approximately 300 GSA- leased vehicles and save approximately $3.4 million in fleet-related costs. According to a GSA official, agencies that need to cut fleet-related costs often realize immediate cash savings by turning in their GSA leased vehicles.

Improved fleet data management also may have helped the Air Force decrease fleet size by identifying and cutting unnecessary vehicles, according to Air Force fleet managers. As part of its effort to establish a property management information system, the Air Force needed to aggregate and validate vehicle operations data to produce an accurate, agencywide view of its worldwide fleet, which required conducting a full inventory of its 90,000 tactical and non-tactical vehicles around the world. According to Air Force officials, this process helped the Air Force identify and remove unnecessary vehicles from its fleet, as described previously in this report.

Subordinate Bureaus’ Fleet Changes May Not Determine the Overall Direction of Agency Fleet Size Changes

Similar to our findings related to the overall federal fleets, we found instances where fleet changes in agencies’ subordinate bureaus’ fleets did not coincide with the direction of fleet changes at the overall department level. For example, in response to the May 2011 presidential memorandum on fleet performance, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) prohibited new vehicle acquisitions and made concerted efforts to reduce the size of its fleet through the disposal of older, under-utilized, high emission vehicles. (See fig. 8.) NRCS also decreased its fleet when the agency closed several offices and terminated programs in response to a $30-million budget cut. According to USDA officials, these fleet downsizing efforts helped NRCS reduce its fleet by over 1,200 vehicles. Despite this, reductions in NRCS’s fleet were not substantial enough to influence the overall change in USDA’s fleet, which grew by 5 percent from fiscal years 2005 to 2011.

Conversely, Interior’s National Park Service increased its fleet size to handle additional park management responsibilities even though Interior’s overall fleet size decreased. (See fig. 9.) According to Interior officials, National Park Service’s fleet increased in some regions to accommodate new parks, road projects, and land acquisitions. For example, National Park Service incorporated nine additional parks and historic monuments into its national park system from 2006 to 2011, and these additions to the system required additional vehicles to carry out mission needs. While the National Park Service’s fleet increased, these additional vehicles did not change the direction of Interior’s overall fleet size changes.

Agency Comments

We provided copies of a draft of this report to GSA, Air Force, USDA, Interior, and VA for their review and comment. The audit liaisons from Air Force, USDA, and Interior provided emails indicating their agencies had no comments on the draft report. GSA’s Associate Administrator and VA’s Chief of Staff agreed with our findings and provided written technical comments that were incorporated as appropriate.

We are sending copies of this report to interested congressional committees, the Administrator of the General Services Administration, and the Secretaries of Agriculture, Air Force, Defense, the Interior, and Veterans Affairs. In addition, the report is available at no charge on the GAO website at http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact me at (202) 512-2834 or flemings@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made major contributions to this report are listed in appendix II.

Appendix I: Federal Agencies’ and the General Services Administration’s Roles and Responsibilities for Federal Vehicles

Federal agencies and the General Services Administration (GSA) have distinct responsibilities regarding federal fleets. Federal agencies are responsible for operating a fleet that enables them to fulfill their mission and meet federal energy and fuel efficiency requirements. GSA’s role is to promulgate regulations, develop guidance to help agencies manage their fleets, help agencies procure affordable vehicles, and provide reports on the federal fleet.

Primary Responsibilities of Federal Agencies

Federal agencies are responsible for acquiring, maintaining, and managing their vehicle fleets.

Vehicle acquisition. Federal agencies are responsible for making decisions about the number and type of vehicles they need and how to acquire them. Agencies obtain most of their vehicles through either GSA’s purchasing program, which is managed by GSA Automotive, or its leasing program, which is operated by GSA Fleet. GSA is a mandatory source for purchase of new vehicles for federal executive agencies and other eligible users. In some instances, federal agencies may purchase specialized vehicles directly from the manufacturer with GSA approval or lease vehicles from commercial According to federal guidelines, when making acquisition venders.decisions, agencies should purchase vehicles that meet their mission and represent the best value by taking into consideration price, greenhouse gas score, delivery time, fuel economy, life cycle cost, past performance, dealer and maintenance location, and optional equipment.

Vehicle maintenance. Federal agencies should develop a maintenance program for their vehicles to ensure that they meet federal and state safety and emissions standards and manufacturer warranty requirements and are operated and inspected as recommended by the manufacturer and required by local conditions.

For agencies that lease vehicles from GSA, GSA Fleet develops their vehicle maintenance program.

Fleet management. Federal agencies determine when to replace or dispose of vehicles based on federal vehicle replacement standards and their mission and program needs. GSA has established minimum standards that call for agencies to retain agency-owned vehicles for at least a requisite number of years or miles. For example, an agency should keep a sedan or station wagon for at least 3 years or 60,000 miles, whichever occurs first. It may keep the vehicle beyond the minimum years and miles if the vehicle can be operated without excessive maintenance or substantial reduction in resale value. Conversely, it may replace a vehicle that has not yet met the threshold if the vehicle needs body or mechanical repairs that exceed the fair market value of the vehicle. Federal regulations allow agencies to dispose of vehicles they no longer need and find to be in excess of the agencies’ needs even if the vehicles have not met the minimum replacement standards for years and mileage. Agencies may dispose of vehicles by using the exchange/sale authority provided by title 40 of the United States Code, transferring them to other agencies, selling them, or donating them. For agencies that lease vehicles, GSA Fleet manages the disposal process.

GSA’s Primary Responsibilities

GSA Automotive manages the vehicle purchasing program and offers an array of non-tactical vehicle products at a savings from the manufacturer’s invoice price, including alternative fuel vehicles, sedans, light trucks, ambulances, buses, and heavy trucks.

GSA Automotive purchases vehicles through the original equipment manufacturer and has contracts with the manufacturers’ representative dealers with a variety of vehicle makes and models at competitive prices.

GSA Automotive develops annual vehicle standards that establish the types and sizes of vehicles and general equipment requirements it will offer. The purpose of the federal vehicle standards is to achieve a practical degree of standardization within the federal government automotive fleet and to simplify the competitive procurement of vehicles.

GSA Automotive maintains an on-line procurement tool that allows the agency officials to view the standard vehicle models, choose equipment and color options, view side-by- side comparisons of vehicle models from different manufacturers, place their orders, and track delivery.

In fiscal year 2011, federal agencies ordered 54,964 vehicles costing $1.36 billion through the on-line system.

GSA also manages the federal government’s vehicle-leasing program. Federal agencies may approach GSA Fleet to lease some or all of the vehicles they determine necessary to meet their mission and program needs. In certain instances, federal agencies may lease vehicles from commercial sources without prior approval or permission from GSA. After receiving an agency’s request to lease vehicles:

A GSA Fleet representative considers the type and number of vehicles requested, as well as the type of assignment, anticipated duration of the assignment, projected monthly mileage, and vehicle quantities, types, locations, and date required. Agencies are required to provide statements certifying that they have the funds to pay for the vehicles and that the top-level fleet manager concurs with the request.

GSA Fleet provides either used or new vehicles to the requesting agency. GSA does not guarantee that it will offer the agency a new vehicle; sometimes, vehicles returned from other agencies are the ones used to fill another agency’s request. However, GSA guarantees that even used vehicles will be in good mechanical and cosmetic condition. GSA Fleet procures new vehicles using GSA Automotive’s on-line procurement system. There are some vehicle types, such as fire trucks, that GSA Fleet does not lease, in part because they are so costly and specialized.

As part of the leasing arrangement, GSA Fleet provides maintenance, repairs, fuel, and accident claims management and gets reimbursed for these costs by the participating agencies. Agencies pay a monthly fee to cover vehicle depreciation and fleet management costs, and pay a per-mile fee to cover fuel, maintenance, repair, and auction costs.

GSA Fleet replaces vehicles according to a pre-established schedule. A GSA Fleet representative monitors an agency’s fleet and measures the vehicles against a set of minimum standards (i.e., age and mileage) as well as condition and repair history. If the representative determines the vehicle is eligible for replacement, it will be replaced with the same type of vehicle unless the agency indicates its needs have changed and wants to acquire a different type of vehicle. In cases where the requested replacement vehicle is an upgrade to a more expensive vehicle, the agency must submit to GSA a written justification certifying the vehicle is mission essential.

Federal agencies may return leased vehicles that have not yet met the replacement requirement to GSA. In cases where GSA can transfer the vehicles to meet another agency’s requests immediately, the original leasing agency is no longer responsible for the leasing fees. In cases where GSA cannot immediately transfer the vehicles, the lessor agency may have to continue to make its payments. A GSA official noted that this occurs infrequently because typically it places vehicles within a month of receiving them.

Once the GSA Fleet representative determines vehicles should be replaced, he or she uses a nationwide network of commercial auction firms to sell and dispose of them. GSA uses the sales’ proceeds to help purchase new vehicles.

In addition to its procurement activities, GSA establishes policies and issues guidance to help agencies manage their fleets effectively and meet other federal requirements. GSA promulgates federal management regulations governing federal fleet operations. It also issues fleet guidance in the form of bulletins and promotes interagency collaboration through various committees and councils. While GSA believes it has the authority to require agencies to follow its regulations and to issue guidance, GSA officials indicated it lacked enforcement authority. One official stated that it relies on the federal agencies’ Inspectors General to take enforcement action when agencies do not comply with regulations. GSA and the Department of Energy cosponsor the Federal Automotive Statistical Tool (FAST), a Web-based reporting tool for agencies to report fleet data. FAST is used to satisfy the reporting requirements of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and other statutory and regulatory mandates, and GSA uses it to produce the annual federal fleet report.

Appendix II: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Staff Acknowledgments

In addition to the contact above, Maria Edelstein (Assistant Director), Gail Marnik, Tina Paek, Russell Burnett, Jim Ungvarsky, Josh Ormond, and Amy Rosewarne made key contributions to this report.

Related GAO Products

Federal Acquisition: Increased Attention to Vehicle Fleets Could Result in Savings. GAO-04-664. Washington, D.C.: May 25, 2004.

GSA Fleet: Information on the Effect of Donating Cars to YouthBuild USA and Potential Benefits to Rural Youthbuild Participants. GAO-07-153. Washington, D.C.: December 8, 2006.

Federal Energy and Fleet Management: Plug-in Vehicles Offer Potential Benefits, but High Costs and Limited Information Could Hinder Integration into the Federal Fleet. GAO-09-493. Washington, D.C.: June 9, 2009.

Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue. GAO-11-318SP. Washington, D.C.: March 1, 2011.

United States Postal Service: Strategy Needed to Address Aging Delivery Fleet. GAO-11-386. Washington, D.C.: May 5, 2011.