Agencies are responsible for managing their vehicle fleets in a manner that allows them to fulfill their missions and meet various federal requirements. For example, agencies must determine the number and type of vehicles they need and how to acquire them, including whether to own or lease them. Various statutes, executive orders, and policy initiatives direct federal agencies to, among other things, collect and analyze data on costs, reduce fuel consumption, and eliminate non- essential vehicles. In addition, GSA has issued federal fleet-management regulations that include requirements regarding agencies’ fleet- management information systems, vehicle fuel efficiency, and vehicle utilization, among other things. GSA has also issued guidance to help agencies manage their fleets effectively and meet federal requirements, including guidance on assessing vehicle needs, using alternative fuel vehicles, and potential cost-saving techniques. Federal agencies may approach GSA to lease some or all of the vehicles they determine necessary to meet their mission and program needs. Supported by a network of regional Fleet Management Centers, GSA manages the federal government’s vehicle-leasing program (called GSA Fleet), which leases vehicles to over 75 federal agencies. The size of the federal leased fleet ranged from about 195,000 vehicles in fiscal year 2008 to about 199,000 vehicles in fiscal year 2011, but declined to about 190,000 vehicles in fiscal year 2012.information on the size of the leased fleet. GSA’s leasing rates, terms, and services help agencies keep fleet costs down in a variety of ways. For example, GSA procures the vehicles it leases at a discount and passes those savings on to its customers, provides agencies with data analyses that can be used to eliminate unnecessary vehicles, and identifies fraud, waste, and abuse related to leased vehicles. However, we identified two areas where GSA’s rates and terms have not encouraged agency efforts to reduce fleet costs. First, GSA’s monthly mileage rate, which covers agency fuel costs, does not provide incentives for agencies to reduce some fuel costs, such as costs associated with idling. Second, lack of clear GSA guidance on what constitutes excessive wear and tear of leased vehicles can limit the ability of agencies to determine whether it is less expensive to lease or own vehicles. GSA is currently taking steps to develop such guidance. GSA’s leasing rates, terms, and services help agencies minimize fleet costs in various ways, as discussed below. GSA officials and our panels of civilian and military federal fleet managers told us that GSA’s vehicle lease rates are lower, for the most part, than the commercial sector and provide a more economical choice for federal agencies., Although some agencies may choose to lease from commercial vendors, only about 3 percent of federally leased vehicles, many of which are not offered by GSA—such as utility trucks with cranes and luxury executive vehicles—are leased through the commercial sector. According to GSA officials, the agency keeps leasing rates low by minimizing vehicle acquisition costs, maximizing resale values, and not having to make a profit. They pointed out that the agency has the ability to buy vehicles at a discount, at prices that average 17 percent below invoice, because it buys in volume from manufacturers, about 50,000 vehicles annually. GSA is then able to pass these savings on to its customers and eventually resells the vehicles at a point when their resale value is still high. According to GSA officials, the agency’s vehicle maintenance program also contributes to its low lease rates by ensuring that vehicles are maintained in good condition, decreasing the need for costly maintenance and repair. GSA’s vehicle lease terms can help keep down the cost of leasing to agencies. According to GSA officials, its vehicle lease terms, which include coverage of routine maintenance and repair, help ensure that vehicles receive proper maintenance and repair and encourage agencies to take care of their leased vehicles. According to GSA officials, ensuring vehicles received proper maintenance would be more difficult if GSA left it up to the leasing agencies. GSA officials believe these terms maximize the resale value of the vehicles for GSA, which, as noted, can help to In addition, GSA offers short-term keep overall leasing costs down.vehicle rentals for up to 120 days. Such leasing arrangements allow agencies to meet short-term vehicle needs rather than lease vehicles for longer periods when not needed or rent them from commercial vendors, which can be more expensive. Short-term rentals are commonly used for special events, such as conventions, or seasonal needs. Federal fleet managers told us that they found GSA’s analysis of data on their leased fleet, made possible through GSA’s fleet card, to be helpful in identifying underutilized leased vehicles within their fleet that can be disposed of or shared. For example, GSA officials told us that if the agency identified two underused vehicles in the same location travelling 5,000 miles annually, when the performance measure for full vehicle usage for each vehicle was 10,000 miles, it would suggest that the agency consider eliminating one of these vehicles. Some federal fleet managers also noted that GSA fleet data analysis helps agencies identify when inefficient driving practices may be occurring, particularly related to fuel purchases, within their fleets. According to GSA officials, GSA’s fleet service representatives analyze fuel use data to identify when vehicles record low miles per gallon, which may indicate that a vehicle idles too much or that vehicle has an engine problem, and works with the agency to resolve any issues found. According to one fleet manager on our military panel, GSA identified excessive idling in the agency’s fleet and worked collaboratively to curb it. GSA’s Loss Prevention Team is a group within GSA Fleet whose mission is to prevent misuse and abuse within GSA’s vehicle leasing program. The Loss Prevention Team has a memorandum of understanding with the GSA Office of Inspector General (OIG) that specifies services, such as coordinating the initiation of investigations that the OIG is to provide for fleet charge card cases. GSA’s OIG is an independent unit that is responsible for promoting economy, efficiency, and effectiveness and detecting and preventing fraud, waste, and mismanagement in GSA’s programs and operations. years 2009 to 2012 ranged widely from $66 to $299,000. The larger amount involved a case in which an individual was found to have stolen and used multiple GSA fleet cards to purchase and then resell gasoline. In partnership with the Department of Justice, GSA seeks the prosecution of individuals believed to have committed fraud and seeks to recoup the money. In addition to the identification of fraud, GSA’s leasing services can help with reducing the costs of accident management, according to some federal fleet managers. For example, one federal fleet manager noted that GSA’s management of the fault resolution process when government vehicles are involved in accidents with private vehicles helps reduce costs that agencies incur from accidents. GSA seeks to ensure that, when government drivers are not at fault, the party responsible for the accident reimburses the federal government. GSA’s vehicle maintenance program also helps reduce agency fleet costs, according to federal fleet manager panelists. GSA has national agreements with major maintenance and tire companies to provide discounted maintenance services and vehicle parts. A GSA automotive technician, who is responsible for ensuring that the repairs are necessary and appropriately priced, must validate all repairs over $100. According to GSA officials, its overall management of the leasing program—including its approaches for acquiring, maintaining, and replacing vehicles and the various services it offers to its customer agencies—provides economies of scale and a “unified way of conducting business” that ultimately reduces costs. For example, according to these officials, their centralized management of the leased fleet provides an enhanced ability to detect waste, fraud, and abuse related to leased vehicles and helps prevent duplicative fleet management operations in federal agencies that can be more costly. Under GSA’s leasing rate structure, the monthly mileage fee charged to agencies covers fuel costs, as well as other variable costs, such as those for vehicle maintenance. A customer agency’s mileage fee, which is determined by the miles its leased vehicles travel and GSA’s mileage rate per category of vehicle leased, may not fully reflect some fuel costs not associated with miles traveled. These include costs associated with some driver behaviors such as idling, speeding, and fast stops and starts. GSA bases its mileage rate partly on the average cost of fuel per mile across all agencies for each category of vehicle available for leasing. According to GSA officials, the rate is designed to cover the leasing program’s overall variable costs, which GSA pays for, and is a good approximation of these costs. The fee each agency pays does not necessarily reflect the fuel it actually uses, however, as the rate is not designed to capture individual agencies’ fuel costs. Specifically, drivers of vehicles leased by some agencies may engage in behaviors such as idling, speeding, and fast stops and starts—which increase fuel use—to a greater extent than drivers in some other agencies, but all agencies would pay the same rate per mile for each category of vehicle leased. For example, according to Air Force officials, GSA identified excessive idling in leased vehicles at the Dover Air Force base and worked with the Air Force to curb it. In addition, vehicles used by DHS’s Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) in the desert on the southern border of the United States may need to idle often to keep the occupants of the vehicle cool during hot days. Yet with GSA’s monthly mileage rate, CBP generally pays based on the number of miles traveled, not the actual amount of fuel consumed by idling. According to GSA officials, the agency occasionally adds a surcharge to agency monthly mileage rates for excessive idling, which GSA evaluates on a month-by-month basis.