Federal Buildings: GSA Can Improve Its Communication about and Assessment of Major Construction Projects
Fast Facts
The General Services Administration spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually to build or modernize federal offices, courthouses, and other buildings.
We found GSA routinely meets its cost and schedule goals, but it does not report the projects’ final costs or how much project costs and schedules were revised. Also, GSA evaluates whether projects meet design standards and tenant needs, but it lacks guidance for identifying and communicating lessons learned from completed projects.
We recommended that GSA report completed projects' final costs and establish written guidance on how to assess projects following construction.
New Federal Courthouse Building
Courthouse building
Highlights
What GAO Found
In fiscal years 2014 through 2018, the General Services Administration (GSA) completed 36 major construction projects—projects with a minimum cost of $20 million to construct new buildings or modernize existing buildings—with a total cost of $3.2 billion. According to a GSA consultant, factors specific to federal construction projects may result in GSA's projects costing roughly 15 to 25 percent more than comparable private sector projects. For example, GSA uses more durable but more expensive materials to achieve a longer building service life compared to private owners who may plan for a shorter service life.
GSA's Annual Performance Reports to Congress do not indicate how much GSA “rebaselined” projects' schedules and costs. Rebaslining reestablishes the point at which GSA measures on-schedule and on-budget performance. In accordance with agency policy, GSA rebaselined 25 of 36 projects GAO reviewed to account for issues such as design changes and tenant-funded requests. For example, GSA rebaselined one of its modernization projects for a $2.7 million increase to the construction contract initially awarded for $21.8 million. The increase resulted from a design change to add a stairwell for fire safety purposes to accomodate the tenant's plan to increase the building's occupants (see figure). After GSA rebaselines a project, costs may differ from the project estimates approved by Congress. Because GSA does not report the extent that it has rebaselined projects or projects' final costs, Congress lacks information about GSA's performance: such as whether final costs are consistently above, below, or meeting estimated costs. Reporting such information could benefit Congress' ability to carry out its oversight role and improve transparency about the full costs of major federal construction projects.
GSA Building (Before) and Modernization Project Showing New Stairwell (After)
GSA assesses whether projects meet requirements and tenants' needs but does not fully capture or share lessons learned. For example, GSA uses “commissioning”—testing installed building systems—to validate that the buildings' systems function as designed. However, because GSA's 2005 commissioning guide references outdated guidance, the effectiveness of its activities may be limited in assuring buildings are operating optimally. GSA also uses post occupany evaluations (POE) to assess projects' performance and tenants' satisfaction. However, in the last 5 years, GSA has not regularly conducted POEs, due in part to resource constraints, and lacks a policy for selecting projects for POEs and communicating findings from completed POEs. As a result, GSA may be missing opportunities to fully utilize POEs to gather tenants' feedback and inform the design and construction of future projects.
Why GAO Did This Study
As the federal government's landlord, GSA spends hundreds of millions of dollars to construct or modernize federal buildings. By delivering these major construction projects, GSA supports tenant agencies' missions and facilitates the delivery of government services.
GAO was asked to review GSA's major construction projects. This report: (1) identifies costs of these projects in the last 5 years and factors that contribute to those costs; (2) examines how GSA monitors and publicly communicates cost and schedule information; and (3) assesses GSA's efforts to confirm that projects meet GSA's requirements and that tenants are satisfied with completed projects. GAO analyzed GSA's performance data from fiscal years 2014 to 2018 for 36 projects with a minimum cost each of $20 million (i.e., a major construction project); selected five case-study projects representing diversity in project type, geographic area, building type, and range in cost and scope; reviewed applicable GSA policies, procedures, guidance, and reports; and interviewed GSA officials and project stakeholders.
Recommendations
GAO is recommending that GSA (1) report the extent projects were rebaselined and their final costs; (2) update GSA's commissioning guidance; and (3) identify and communicate when and how to conduct POEs and share lessons learned. GSA concurred with two recommendations and partially concurred with the other, which GAO believes should be fully implemented as discussed in the report.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| GSA Office of the Administrator | The Administrator of the GSA should report for Congress and the public—for example, on GSA's prospectus website—the extent to which completed projects' construction costs and schedules were rebaselined and final construction costs, to include any additional funding tenant agencies may have provided to GSA for changes. (Recommendation 1) | As the federal government's landlord, GSA annually spends hundreds of millions of dollars on major construction projects, which includes constructing new buildings and modernizing federal buildings. In 2019, GAO reported that GSA has publicly reported high-level information on its construction project performance in its Annual Performance Reports, which GSA provides to Congress and publishes on GSA's website. While GSA took steps to improve the content and usefulness of its annual reports over the period from fiscal year 2014 through 2018, GAO found that neither GSA's Annual Performance Reports nor its public website provide information on the extent to which projects have been... rebaselined-reestablishing the point at which GSA measures on-schedule and on-budget performance-or the final costs of projects. Simply measuring and reporting performance based on the most recent baseline may obscure how projects have performed over their entire construction time frame. Being more transparent about which projects or how many projects were rebaselined, as well as reporting cost and schedule growth from original baselines, can provide stakeholders with a more accurate view of project performance and enhance accountability. Without that information, it is not possible for Congress to know how projects performed against approved estimated costs and whether final project costs are consistently above, below, or meeting estimated costs. Therefore, GAO recommended that GSA should report for Congress and the public the extent to which completed projects' construction costs and schedules were rebaselined and final construction costs. In November 2020, GAO confirmed that GSA published on its public website summary schedule and budget results for 13 major projects that were completed in fiscal year 2020. The summary information in tabular format shows the original and, as applicable, rebaselined information on the planned completion date and estimated cost of each project in addition to the project's actual completion date and cost. For example, of the 13 projects, eight show a planned completion date that was rebaselined to a later date than initially set. Further, the data show that 11 of the 13 projects experienced schedule growth from their original baselines, meaning that the actual project duration was greater than initially planned, while two projects were completed in less time than initially planned. As related to cost, eight of the 13 projects in the table show that their estimated costs were rebaselined. In addition, the data reveal that 10 projects experienced cost growth, meaning that actual costs exceeded their final baselines, while the cost of two projects held steady and the cost of one project decreased compared to their final baselines. According to GSA, reasons for rebaselining projects' schedules and costs include the award of pre-priced options, modifications for customer changes, unforeseen site conditions, and other issues outside of GSA's control. As a result of reporting this information on projects' schedule and cost rebaselining, and projects' final durations and costs, GSA has provided a more accurate view of project performance that could benefit Congress in its oversight role and improve public knowledge about the full costs of major federal construction projects.
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| GSA Office of the Administrator | The Administrator of the GSA should update its 2005 Commissioning Guide—or replace it with appropriate industry-recognized standards and guidance—to be consistent with GSA's current design standards and industry practices. (Recommendation 2) | As the federal government's landlord, GSA annually spends hundreds of millions of dollars on major construction projects, which includes constructing new buildings and modernizing federal buildings. In general, GSA develops and implements projects through a sequential process that includes, among other things, ensuring that "commissioning" is performed during the project. Commissioning is an industry-recognized quality assurance process for validating that the building's performance and systems meet the designer's intent and the owner's and tenants' requirements. In 2019, GAO reported that GSA conducts commissioning according to the process that the agency set out in The Building...
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| GSA Office of the Administrator | The Administrator of the GSA should identify and communicate—such as through policy, guidance, or other appropriate mechanism—(a) when and how Post Occupancy Evaluations should be conducted for completed projects considering resource constraints and (b) how recommendations or lessons learned from those evaluations are effectively communicated to future project teams. (Recommendation 3) | As the federal government's landlord, GSA annually spends hundreds of millions of dollars on major construction projects, which includes constructing new buildings and modernizing federal buildings. According to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance, Post Occupancy Evaluations (POE) are tools to evaluate the effectiveness of an agency's overall capital acquisition process. POEs are to be conducted on such projects to (1) identify how accurately a project meets its objectives, expected benefits, and strategic goals of the agency and (2) ensure the continual improvement of an agency's capital-programming process based on lessons learned. In 2019, GAO reported that while OMB...
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