FPS—located within the National Protection and Programs Directorate of DHS—protects the over 9,000 federal facilities that are under the control and custody of GSA, as well as the persons on those properties. FPS headquarters is located in Washington, D.C.; regional offices are located in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Denver, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Fort Worth, Kansas City, and the District of Columbia. FPS is authorized to enforce federal laws and regulations aimed at protecting GSA buildings and persons on the property and to investigate offenses against these buildings and persons.include buildings of exclusive, concurrent, and proprietary jurisdictions. Exclusive: Under exclusive federal jurisdiction, the federal government—and federal law enforcement entities—have all of the legislative authority within the land area in question, while the state— and its state and local law enforcement entities—have no residual police powers. Concurrent: In concurrent jurisdiction facilities, both federal and state governments—and law enforcement entities—have jurisdiction over the property. Proprietary: Under proprietary jurisdiction, the federal government has rights—similar to a private landowner—but also maintains its authorities and responsibilities as the federal government. Under proprietary jurisdiction, the local government is the principal municipal police authority. To enable FPS to track changes in the inventory of federal buildings that it protects, GSA, through its Public Buildings Service, provides building data in electronic files to FPS weekly from GSA’s building property system. These data include each building number with address; type of jurisdiction; and square footage and number of personnel to assist FPS to bill for its services, among other things. FPS personnel then input this information into its systems electronically. MegaCenters—the four regional dispatch centers within FPS that are the primary focal points for incident notification (see figure 1)—use the data to direct calls concerning building incidents and emergencies to FPS personnel as well as state and local law enforcement agencies. As a general practice, MegaCenters make direct radio calls for incident response to FPS personnel and telephone calls to state and local law enforcement agencies. FPS instructs tenants to contact the MegaCenter by calling 1-877-4FPS-411 and, in areas where FPS responders cannot provide an immediate response; tenants are often directed to also dial 911. (See fig. 2.) In this report, we assess GSA and FPS’s processes against GAO’s collaboration key practices and internal control standards. Our previous work has broadly defined collaboration as any joint activity that is intended to produce more public value than could be produced when organizations act alone. We have found that key practices for collaboration include: identifying and addressing needs by leveraging resources to support the common outcome and, where necessary, identifying opportunities to leverage resources; agreeing upon agency roles and responsibilities; and establishing compatible policies, procedures, and other means to operate across agency boundaries. Additionally, agencies can strengthen their commitment to work collaboratively by articulating their agreements in formal documents, such as an MOU. We have also reported that organizations may face a range of barriers when they attempt to collaborate with other organizations. One such barrier stems from agencies’ concerns about protecting jurisdiction over missions. In addition, interagency collaboration is often hindered by incompatible procedures, processes, data, and computer systems. GAO has identified standards in facility protection that provide a framework for guiding agencies’ efforts in this area, such as establishing a means of coordinating and sharing information with other government entities and the private sector. Finally, standards for controls over information processing come from GAO’s Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government. According to these standards, internal control is a major part of managing an organization and comprises the plans, methods, and procedures used to meet missions, goals, and objectives. Internal control standards specific for information systems help ensure the completeness and accuracy of data. Some other federal agencies provide their own law enforcement at their facilities. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Police, National Park Service (NPS) law enforcement within the Department of the Interior, and Smithsonian Institution (SI) Police. VA Police provide law enforcement duties to the 152 VA Medical Centers (VAMC). U.S. Park Police is a unit of the National Park Service, with jurisdiction in all National Park Service areas and certain other federal and state lands. U.S. Park Police provides law enforcement services to designated areas within the National Park Service (primarily in the District of Columbia, New York City, and San Francisco, California metropolitan areas). Additionally, Law Enforcement Park Rangers, belonging to the “Visitor and Resource Protection Division” within the National Park Service, are authorized to carry firearms, conduct investigations, make arrests, and serve warrants pursuant to law and policy. Protection and security services at Smithsonian Institution facilities are provided by the Smithsonian Police. FPS uses a variety of methods to collaborate with state and local law enforcement, ranging from establishing MOUs to document agreement on roles and responsibilities with some, to relying on long-standing working relationships with others. FPS also has guidance and various other efforts under way related to coordination with state and local law enforcement. More specifically, FPS reported that it had 21 signed MOUs with state and local law enforcement agencies across the United States as of September 2011.usage in Alabama; MOUs for arrest authority on properties adjacent to federal property in California and Florida; and MOUs for mutual aid in the District of Columbia and Georgia, such as FPS’s reciprocal support agreement with Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. MOUs are mechanisms that can be used to formalize key practices in agency collaboration such as agreeing on roles and responsibilities, including For example, there is an MOU for radio frequency leadership, and to establish compatible policies, procedures, and other means to operate across agency boundaries. While FPS has often found MOUs helpful, the general consensus among FPS officials was that effective coordination did not depend on having MOUs. FPS prefers a flexible approach of pursuing MOUs only when it determines they are needed, as opposed to seeking them in all cases. FPS’s Director stated that FPS has generally not found it necessary to create written documents, requirements, or MOUs because FPS has always received good cooperation from state and local law enforcement agencies when their assistance was needed. For example, in some jurisdictions such as the suburbs surrounding the District of Columbia, FPS has no MOUs with state and local law enforcement agencies but has regular contact and longstanding mutual aid relationships. In addition, several FPS Regional Directors highlighted the importance of local response to incidents in and around federal facilities in rural areas because of the lack of FPS staff at these locations and noted that their informal relationships have worked successfully because state and local law enforcement agencies were consistently reliable in their response to these locations. FPS officials stated that mandating the pursuance of MOUs with all law enforcement entities would not be in the best interest of effectiveness and efficiency and would increase the burden on already task-saturated FPS staff. In addition, it is generally up to state and local law enforcement agencies as to whether they would be willing to enter into an MOU with a federal agency. With regard to long-standing working relationships and regular contact with state and local law enforcement, FPS Inspectors and Regional Directors have developed relationships with state and local law enforcement agencies and collaborate on different levels. Regional Directors in all 11 FPS regions stated that their offices routinely had direct contact with state and local law enforcement agencies at multiple types of security meetings such as the Federal Executive Boards, joint terrorism task forces, and regional fusion center meetings.state and local law enforcement agencies and FPS at these meetings establishes mutually reinforcing or joint strategies designed to help align activities, core processes, and resources to achieve a common outcome. For example, FPS participates in monthly meetings of the Law Enforcement Working Group of the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District. State and local law enforcement chiefs or deputy chiefs from the surrounding area, officials from 15 local colleges, and officials from other federal agencies participate. According to an FPS regional official, the group acts as a “force multiplier” to fight crime within the district, which includes GSA-controlled facilities. FPS officials also have discussions with state and local law enforcement agencies as needed during operational planning associated with special events such as the Olympics, protests, and parades. FPS also has guidance for FPS staff and other efforts under way to collaborate with state and local law enforcement. Regional Directors are responsible for carrying out FPS policy and guidance, and state that many of these written policies contain directives for collaboration with state and local law enforcement. One such directive is FPS Directive 15.1.2.1, Law Enforcement Authority and Powers, which outlines the scope of law enforcement authority on federal property. Other policies that reference state and local law enforcement agencies’ coordination include FPS’s Regional Information Sharing Program, Detention and Arrest, and Joint Terrorism Task Force Policy, among others. Best practices and lessons learned are also communicated throughout FPS regions with weekly regional director conference calls, a regional director’s council that meets monthly, and yearly Regional Director conferences. In addition to guidance, FPS added three new positions in fiscal year 2011 intended to improve communication and standardization across FPS by coordinating with federal, state, and local law enforcement officials to reduce crime at, and potential threats to, federal facilities. These positions are titled Assistant Director for Field Operations (ADFO) for west, central, and east operations. The ADFO will be a spokesman for FPS, representing the Director in his or her designated area. Other initiatives employed by FPS include collaborative operations to avert or obstruct potential threats inside the facility, such as the presence of unauthorized persons, or potentially disruptive or dangerous activities, such as potential terrorist operations and criminal activity in and around federal buildings.