Defense Infrastructure: More Accurate Data Would Allow DOD to Improve the Tracking, Management, and Security of Its Leased Facilities
Highlights
What GAO Found
While the Department of Defense (DOD) is taking some steps to address data issues, it cannot fully determine the number, size, and costs of its leases for real property because its Real Property Assets Database (RPAD), the real property inventory system that DOD uses to report on its leased assets, contains some inaccurate and incomplete data. GAO found that about 15 percent of the RPAD lease records for fiscal year 2011 and 10 percent of the records for fiscal year 2013 were inaccurate. Most of these errors were in the lease records for the Army (the manager of about 80 percent of the leased assets records in RPAD); however, the Army is aware of these issues and is taking steps to correct future data. GAO also found that RPAD did not include about 5 percent of the Army's lease records for fiscal years 2011 and 2013. GAO conducted a random sample of the fiscal year 2013 RPAD data and found that the data element required to calculate costs was unreliable for 11 of the 84 Army sample records. GAO found that the Army was not following DOD's guidance for reporting costs on leases that have multiple assets associated with them. Furthermore, GAO found that RPAD does not contain a data element for the square footage for leases in which there are multiple tenants occupying space in the same building, as is the case for some Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) leases.
DOD is implementing a presidential memorandum and a series of Office of Management and Budget memorandums to maintain or reduce owned and leased space, but has projected minimal change to its leasing activities. There have been opportunities in the past to reduce its leased space; however, DOD reoccupied over 1.1 million square feet in leased space previously vacated when it implemented the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment recommendations. In some cases, DOD tenants occupy leased space close to large installations that may have had unused facilities. Potential force structure reductions may offer an opportunity to further reduce DOD's reliance on leased space in the future, if DOD actively identifies suitable underutilized facilities on its installations.
DOD does not have complete oversight of the security assessments conducted for its leased facilities acquired through the General Services Administration (GSA). Facility security assessments, which are required to be conducted every 3 to 5 years, are conducted by the Pentagon Force Protection Agency and the Federal Protective Service (FPS) using established standards. The Pentagon Force Protection Agency had completed the required assessments for the facilities for which it is responsible between August 8, 2013, and January 31, 2014. However, DOD has not requested information on whether FPS, the primary agency for protecting federal facilities, has completed its facility security assessments as required for all DOD-leased locations. GAO analyzed the FPS assessment data for fiscal years 2011 and 2013 and identified several issues: (1) some assessments were not scheduled within required time frames, (2) data on previously recorded assessment dates were overwritten when updated, and (3) dates for completed and next-scheduled assessments were not always recorded. While FPS is not required to inform DOD about assessment schedules, without periodically requesting information on whether facility security assessments have been conducted, DOD does not have the information it needs to ensure that its leased facilities are secure.
Why GAO Did This Study
Overreliance on costly leasing is one of the major reasons that federal real property management remains on GAO's high-risk list. GAO's prior work has shown that owning buildings often costs less than operating leases, especially where there are long-term needs for space.
House Report 113-102 included a provision that GAO review DOD's management of leased space. For fiscal years 2011 and 2013, this report evaluates the extent to which DOD (1) has accurate and complete data on the number, size, and costs of its leases; (2) has taken actions to reduce its reliance on leased space; and (3) has oversight of the status of security assessments conducted for leased facilities contracted through GSA. GAO analyzed lease data from the real property systems kept by DOD, the military departments, WHS, and GSA, and facility security assessment data from FPS and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency; reviewed guidance; and interviewed cognizant officials.
Recommendations
GAO recommends four actions to improve DOD's management of its leased facilities. DOD concurred with GAO recommendations to (1) enforce its guidance to provide annual rent plus other costs for each asset on the same lease, and (2) request information from FPS on facility security assessments. DOD did not concur with GAO recommendations to capture total square footage, by lease, or to look for opportunities to move DOD organizations in leased space onto installations. As discussed in the report, GAO believes that these recommendations remain valid.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | To improve DOD's ability to oversee its inventory of leased real property, aimed at improving the accuracy and completeness of data in RPAD, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Army to enforce DOD's Real Property Inventory (RPI) Reporting Guidance, which states that for multiple assets associated with a single lease, the military departments and WHS must provide a breakout of the annual rent plus other costs for each asset on the same lease, to avoid overstating costs associated with such leases. |
Closed – Not Implemented
DOD concurred with GAO's March 2016 recommendation to enforce DOD's Real Property Inventory (RPI) Reporting Guidance to break out the annual rent plus other costs for each asset on the same lease to avoid overstating the costs associated with such leases. In July 2019, DOD provided GAO a copy of its annual guidance for end of year submission of its real property inventory, including notes and timeline for submission. DOD stated in its Corrective Action Plan that this annual guidance provided the requirements for proper submission of data to meet the issues identified in this recommendation. However, the documentation provided was generic language and did not provide any detailed information to support closure of this recommendation. In August 2020, we requested documentation that shows that the DOD has reiterated its RPI Reporting Guidance and that military departments and WHS have made the needed adjustments in the reporting of their leased facilities to show a breakout of the annual rent plus other costs for each asset on the same lease. However, DOD has declined to provide the information requested and has been clear that there is no intent to change anything or provide any additional information. Given this, we consider this recommendation closed - not implemented.
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| Department of Defense |
Priority Rec.
To help reduce facility costs and reliance on leased space, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretaries of the military departments to require that their departments look for opportunities to relocate DOD organizations in leased space to installations that may have underutilized space due to force structure reductions or other indicators of potentially available space, where such relocation is cost-effective and does not interfere with the installation's ongoing military mission. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD did not concur with GAO's March 2016 recommendation. However, in March 2020, DOD provided GAO with its Real Property Efficiency Plan, Fiscal Year 2020 - Fiscal Year 2024. This plan discussed the military departments' and the Washington Headquarters Service's plans to monitor the use of leases as well as guidance and directives to exhaust all other possible facility options before using leases. These plans meet the intent of our recommendation that DOD look for opportunities to relocate DOD organizations in leased space to installations that may have underutilized space. Following these plans and guidance should help DOD ensure that it is making the most resource-informed decisions on using leased space versus DOD-owned space.
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| Department of Defense | To improve DOD's ability to ensure that its leased facilities are secure, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence) to request reports from the Federal Protective Service for all leased facilities on a periodic basis as determined necessary for oversight. At a minimum, the Under Secretary should request (1) the results of the assessments, (2) the date on which the last assessment was completed for each facility and the date for which the next scheduled assessment is planned, and (3) information on whether these dates meet the time frames established by Interagency Security Committee standards. |
Closed – Not Implemented
DOD concurred with GAO's March 2016 recommendation. In its July 2019 Corrective Action Plan, DOD stated that it had coordinated with the Federal Protective Service (FPS) to obtain data pertaining to the 677 DOD facilities across 539 total locations (i.e., some locations have multiple tenants, hence more facilities than locations) for which FPS provides physical security. DOD stated that the data provided to them by FPS shows that, as of July 2018, 98 percent of DOD leased facilities met the established time frame for completing assessments and remaining 2 percent (15 of the 677 facilities) had out-of-date assessments. In January 2020, DOD provided GAO with the raw data it received from the Federal Protective Service that DOD said supported these assertions. While this data included the last and next facility assessment dates for each facility, along with several other variables, it did not include sufficient information for us to replicate DOD's analysis that 98 percent of assessments were completed in the 3 to 5 year period. In August 2020, GAO requested that DOD provide the results of its completed assessments, and the remaining information needed to replicated DOD's analysis. However, DOD has declined to provide the information requested and has been clear that there is no intent to change anything or provide any additional information. Given this, we consider the recommendation closed - not implemented.
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| Department of Defense | To improve DOD's ability to oversee its inventory of leased real property, aimed at improving the accuracy and completeness of data in RPAD, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Energy, Installations and Environment) to modify the office's Real Property Information Model to include a data element to capture the square footage for each lease of space in a single building and also make a corresponding change to its Real Property Inventory (RPI) Reporting Guidance to require that the square footage for each individual lease be reported when multiple leases exist for a single building, to avoid overstating the total square footage assigned to each lease in RPAD. |
Closed – Not Implemented
DOD did not concur with GAO's March 2016 recommendation to capture the total square footage assigned to each individual lease when multiple leases exist for a single building and make a corresponding change to its guidance to avoid overstating the total square footage assigned to each lease in RPAD. In its comments, DOD stated that it agreed that the issue we identified existed regarding multiple leases that are assigned the same building (leases managed by WHS in the National Capital Region), but that DOD did not agree with GAO's recommended solution to this issue. DOD stated that it believed that the underlying cause for overstating the total square footage for these records in RPAD was a data aggregation issue. DOD stated that its Data Analytics and Integration Support (DAIS) platform that was in the process of being developed would include the capability to capture square footage for multiple leases in a single asset. As of August 2020, DAIS is fully operational, and GAO requested that DOD provide documentation to demonstrate that this information is included in DAIS, as DOD stated that it would be. However, DOD has not provided this documentation, as requested, and has been clear that there is no intent to change anything or provide any additional information. Given this, and the department's original non-concurrence, we will update the recommendation to closed - not implemented.
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