Heavy Equipment: Selected Agencies Should Improve Guidance for Purchases and Leases
Highlights
What GAO Found
Of the 24 agencies GAO reviewed, 20 reported owning over 136,000 heavy equipment items such as cranes, backhoes, and forklifts, and spending over $7.4 billion (in 2016 dollars) to acquire this equipment. The remaining 4 agencies reported that they do not own any heavy equipment.
Number and Percentage of Heavy Equipment Items Owned by 20 Agencies, as of June 2017
The three selected agencies GAO reviewed in-depth—the Air Force within the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service within the Department of the Interior (Interior)—spent about $360 million to purchase about 3,500 heavy equipment assets in calendar years 2012 through 2016 and over $5 million to lease heavy equipment from fiscal years 2012 through 2016. Officials from all three agencies stated that they consider mission needs and the availability of equipment leases when deciding whether to lease or purchase heavy equipment. Federal regulations provide that agencies should consider whether it is more economical to lease or purchase equipment when acquiring heavy equipment, and federal internal control standards require that management clearly document all transactions in a manner that allows the documentation to be readily available for examination. However, in reviewing selected leases and purchases of heavy equipment from these three agencies, GAO found that officials did not consistently conduct or document lease-versus-purchase analyses. Officials at the Air Force and Interior said that there was a lack of clarity in agency policies about when they were required to conduct and document such analyses. Without greater clarity on when lease-versus-purchase analyses should be conducted and documented, these agencies may not be spending funds on heavy equipment effectively.
Why GAO Did This Study
Federal agencies use heavy equipment such as cranes and forklifts to carry out their missions, but there is no government-wide data on federal agencies' acquisition or management of this equipment.
GAO was asked to review federal agencies' management of heavy equipment. This report, among other objectives, examines: (1) the number, type, and costs of heavy equipment items that are owned by 20 federal agencies and (2) the heavy equipment that selected agencies recently acquired as well as how they decided whether to purchase or lease this equipment.
GAO collected heavy equipment inventory data as of June 2017 from the 24 agencies that have chief financial officers responsible for overseeing financial management. GAO also selected three agencies (using factors such as the heavy equipment fleet's size) and reviewed their acquisitions of and guidance on heavy equipment. These agencies' practices are not generalizable to all acquisitions but provide insight into what efforts these agencies take to acquire thousands of heavy equipment items. GAO also interviewed officials at the three selected agencies.
Recommendations
The Department of the Interior and the Air Force should clarify the circumstances in which lease-versus-purchases analyses for heavy equipment acquisitions are to be conducted and documented. The Departments of the Interior and Defense concurred with these recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Air Force | The Secretary of the Air Force should develop guidance to clarify the circumstances in which lease-versus-purchase analyses for heavy equipment acquisitions are to be conducted and documented. (Recommendation 1) | Federal agencies use heavy equipment such as cranes and forklifts to carry out their missions, including construction, highway maintenance, and servicing aircraft. This type of equipment can cost over $2 million per item. In acquiring heavy equipment, agencies can purchase or lease the equipment from either a commercial vendor or GSA. Under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), agencies should consider whether to lease equipment instead of purchasing it based on several factors. The FAR provides that agency officials should evaluate cost and other factors by conducting a "lease-versus-purchase" analysis before acquiring heavy equipment. Additionally, DOD's regulations require its... component agencies to prepare a justification supporting lease-versus-purchase decisions if the equipment is to be leased for more than 60 days. In 2018, GAO reported that it reviewed four Air Force heavy equipment acquisitions and found no instances in which Air Force officials documented a lease-versus-purchase analysis. For the acquisitions that GAO reviewed, Air Force officials told GAO they did not believe a lease-versus-purchase analysis was required because the new equipment was either replacing old equipment that was previously approved or could be deployed. Moreover, the Air Force did not have guidance that describes the circumstances that require either a lease-versus-purchase analysis or documentation of the rationale for not completing such analysis. Without greater clarity regarding when to conduct or document lease-versus-purchase analyses, Air Force officials might not have been conducting such analyses when appropriate and might not have always made the best acquisition decisions. Therefore, GAO recommended that the Air Force should develop guidance to clarify the circumstances in which lease-versus-purchase analyses for heavy equipment are to be conducted. In 2019, GAO confirmed that the Air Force had sent a written reminder to staff that clarified when a written leave-versus-purchase analysis must be conducted for heavy equipment acquisitions. Air Force also provided staff a direct link to related training and available resources. As a result of these actions, Air Force is in a better position to have the information needed to make informed decisions about future acquisitions of heavy equipment.
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| Department of the Interior | The Secretary of the Interior should further clarify in guidance the circumstances in which lease-versus-purchase analyses for heavy equipment acquisitions are to be conducted and documented. (Recommendation 2) | Federal agencies use heavy equipment such as cranes and forklifts to carry out their missions, including construction, highway maintenance, and servicing aircraft. This type of equipment can cost over $2 million per item. In acquiring heavy equipment, agencies can purchase or lease the equipment from either a commercial vendor or the General Services Administration. Under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), agencies should consider whether to lease equipment instead of purchasing it based on several factors. The FAR provides that agency officials should evaluate cost and other factors by conducting a "lease-versus-purchase" analysis before acquiring heavy equipment. In 2013, the...
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