Recommendation: The Commissioner of FDA should establish and implement formal policies to use quality information (e.g., linking decisions to mission-related goals) in the three centers' planning for their personal property needs, consistent with key characteristics integral to asset management leading practices. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Food and Drug Administration
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Commissioner of FDA should establish and implement formal policies to use quality information (e.g., tracking condition, and maintenance and repair costs) in the three centers' operations and maintenance of personal property, consistent with key characteristics integral to asset management leading practices. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Food and Drug Administration
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Commissioner of FDA should establish and implement formal policies to use quality information (e.g., measuring and documenting performance) in the three centers' reviews of personal property performance, consistent with key characteristics integral to asset management leading practices. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Food and Drug Administration
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Administrator of GSA should take steps to ensure that the condition of all White Oak facilities that FDA occupies are assessed, including limited access areas and tenant improvements that are above the standard services and facilities that GSA provides. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: General Services Administration
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Commissioner of CBP should clearly document the process and criteria for making decisions on funding non-owned operational requirements and communicate this process to Border Patrol sectors. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: United States Customs and Border Protection
Status: Open

Comments: In September 2017, CBP concurred with our recommendation and stated that it will use the Capability Gap Analysis Process to validate its access and mobility requirements on a national level. The national priorities will be determined through requirements planning at Border Patrol stations. CBP noted that it will outline the process and criteria for making decisions on funding for non-owned operational requirements and communicate this process to Border Patrol sectors. In November 2018, CBP reported that Border Patrol developed a prioritization process related to the order of wall deployments, which will be tailored to use in determining the priority order for road investments. According to CBP, priority order is to be determined based on the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data and the operational expertise of Border Patrol station, sector and national level leadership. The process was developed by USBP's Operational Requirements Management Division, communicated to southern border sectors, and executed to establish the priority deployment order of fiscal year 2018 new road requirements. Once the prioritization process has been refined, it will be expanded to also include the maintenance and repair on existing roads. In October 2019, CBP reported that it continues to work on enhancing the existing prioritization strategy, which includes exploring implementation of a new prioritization modeling tool and methodology. Discussions on how and if the model will be effective as a prioritization tool have been delayed due to several other internal priorities and external disruptions. Therefore, and based on leadership guidance, the prioritization strategy and methodology will be delayed. CBP officials reported in June 2020 that Border Patrol's Strategic Planning and Analysis Directorate Operational Requirements Management Division personnel will conduct data calls over the upcoming weeks with Tactical Infrastructure subject matter experts from the sectors and stations to validate existing road requirements and initiate the data collection for the prioritization process. Once the process is formalized, we will determine whether CBP's efforts fully address the intent of this recommendation.

Recommendation: To better inform Congress and improve what is known about the extent to which elderly residents of Section 202 properties are assisted by service coordinators, the Assistant Secretary for Housing should develop and implement written guidance that describes how HUD staff should assess Section 202 properties' compliance with the program's supportive services requirement. Such guidance should include information on the roles and responsibilities of HUD staff for (1) identifying stand-alone Section 202 properties and (2) monitoring the supportive services requirement for Section 202 properties with grant- and budget-based service coordinators, Section 202 properties that do not have service coordinators, and stand-alone Section 202 properties.

Agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development
Status: Open

Comments: In February 2018, HUD noted that it is in the process of finalizing written guidance which will document the agency's expectations regarding the supportive services requirement for Section 202 properties. HUD plans to finalize the guidance and post it on its website by May 2018. In July 2019, HUD noted that it posted guidance related to service coordinators on its website in 2018. The guidance describes the roles and responsibilities of service coordinators as well is reporting policies related to budget-based service coordinators. As of October 2019, HUD noted that it is drafting guidance that includes information on identifying and monitoring stand-alone Section 202 properties. This recommendation will remain open until HUD can demonstrate providing guidance to HUD staff on (1) identifying stand-alone Section 202 properties, and (2) monitoring the supportive services requirement for various types of Section 202 properties, including properties without service coordinators and stand-alone Section 202 properties. In December 2019, we requested further information from HUD and will continue to follow up on the agency's progress toward implementing this recommendation.

Recommendation: To better inform Congress and improve what is known about the extent to which elderly residents of Section 202 properties are assisted by service coordinators, the Assistant Secretary for Housing should develop and implement policies and procedures for (1) verifying the accuracy of a sample of the performance information that Section 202 properties submit through semiannual performance reports and (2) analyzing the performance information collected.

Agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development
Status: Open

Comments: In February 2018, HUD noted that it had implemented a pilot program in 2017 which connected the information systems that some Section 202 properties use to record information on their service coordinator programs to a "grant reporting framework." In February 2018, HUD staff told us that all Section 202 properties with Service Coordinators would be required to use the new grant reporting framework in 2018, and that the new framework included edit checks and other mechanisms designed to improve the reliability of the data reported. In July 2019, HUD noted that they are continuing work on the pilot program and have not analyzed the data yet. They also stated that the pilot includes processes to help ensure the reliability of the data. In October 2019, HUD stated that the pilot ended in FY 2018 and the new grant reporting framework became a national reporting requirement for all Multifamily service coordinator programs (grant-funded and budget-based) in FY 2019. This recommendation will remain open until HUD develops and implements policies and procedures for (1) verifying the accuracy of a sample of performance information, and (2) analyzing the performance information collected. In December 2019, we requested further information from HUD and will continue to follow up on the agency's progress toward implementing this recommendation.

Recommendation: To improve the effectiveness of BLM's efforts to track and deter unauthorized grazing, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of BLM to amend the regulations on unauthorized grazing use--43 C.F.R. Subpart 4150 (2005)--to establish a procedure for the informal resolution of violations at the local level, or follow the existing regulations by sending a notice of unauthorized use for each potential violation as provided by 43 C.F.R. 4150.2(a) (2005).

Agency: Department of the Interior
Status: Open

Comments: As of April 2020, BLM is reviewing comments from the Department of the Interior's Office of the Solicitor on the revised grazing handbook. In addition, BLM will need to develop and roll-out a communication strategy and plan. Therefore, the recommendations will not be fully implemented until December 31, 2020.

Recommendation: To improve the effectiveness of BLM's efforts to track and deter unauthorized grazing, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of BLM to record all incidents of unauthorized grazing, including those resolved informally.

Agency: Department of the Interior
Status: Open

Comments: As of April 2020, BLM is reviewing comments from the Department of the Interior's Office of the Solicitor on the revised grazing handbook. In addition, BLM will need to develop and roll-out a communication strategy and plan. Therefore, the recommendations will not be fully implemented until December 31, 2020.

Recommendation: To improve the effectiveness of BLM's efforts to track and deter unauthorized grazing, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of BLM to revise the agency's Unauthorized Grazing Use Handbook to make it consistent with 43 C.F.R. pt. 4100 (2005).

Agency: Department of the Interior
Status: Open

Comments: As of April 2020, BLM is reviewing comments from the Department of the Interior's Office of the Solicitor on the revised grazing handbook. In addition, BLM will need to develop and roll-out a communication strategy and plan. Therefore, the recommendations will not be fully implemented until December 31, 2020.

Recommendation: To improve the effectiveness of the Forest Service's efforts to track and deter unauthorized grazing, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Chief of the Forest Service to adopt an unauthorized grazing penalty structure that is based, similar to BLM's, on the current commercial value of forage.

Agency: Department of Agriculture
Status: Open

Comments: As of July 2020, Washington Office staff are finalizing directive revisions affecting the change in the excess and unauthorized use fee structure and preparing them for tribal consultation. It is anticipated that the 120-day tribal consultation period will begin concurrent with the publication in the Federal Register of a 60-day notice and comment period for the revised directives. It is expected that the revisions would be ready to be implemented prior to the beginning of the 2021 grazing fee year that begins March 1, 2021.

Recommendation: As part of its lease reform efforts and to increase possible cost savings, the GSA Administrator should seek to reduce leasing costs for federal agencies by allowing tenant agencies the option of choosing non-cancelable occupancy agreements with lower administrative costs, particularly for leases with firm terms of 5 years or less.

Agency: General Services Administration
Status: Open

Comments: In November 2018, GSA officials said that they were unlikely to implement this recommendation because it would shift costs from the tenants to GSA but not reduce overall costs. GAO continues to believe that reducing unnecessary costs to tenant agencies would reduce overall leasing costs by encouraging GSA to be more efficient.

Recommendation: The Administrator of the General Services Administration should develop a legislative proposal to enhance accountability for government-wide implementation of the Act. GSA should consider including the following in its proposal: (1) establishing authorities for a single agency to monitor and enforce implementation of the Act; (2) establishing agency responsibilities for reporting progress on implementation of the Act; (3) establishing agency responsibilities for assessing employee skill levels related to the Act and identifying training that allows employees to develop and retain skills required by the Act; and (4) establishing an interagency group to further government-wide collaboration on implementation of the Act.

Agency: General Services Administration
Status: Open

Comments: As of November 2019, GSA has informed us that it submitted a legislative proposal as part of the FY 2018 and FY 2019 budget cycle that was subsequently not included in the President's budget. We have asked GSA to provide us a copy of this proposal. We will evaluate whether this proposal is sufficient to close this recommendation.

Recommendation: To strengthen BLM's controls and reasonably assure accountability over mining law program expenditures, both payroll and nonpayroll, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of the Bureau of Land Management to establish procedures for regular and timely communication to all BLM employees on policy and procedural changes affecting the mining law program's expenditure-related processes.

Agency: Department of the Interior
Status: Open

Comments: The Department of Interior's (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agreed with our recommendation. In support of closing this recommendation, officials from BLM re-iterated their policy about sending updates regarding guidance changes, which is included in its directives handbook. They also provided us with an example of its timely communication to BLM employees to announce the issuance of its revised Fund Code Handbook. We reviewed the directives handbook and verified that it contains guidance for communicating policy and procedural changes affecting the mining law program's expenditure-related processes. While the guidance in the directives handbook is a good start towards meeting the intent of our recommendation, we communicated to BLM in fiscal year 2019 that the findings in the report were caused in part by inadequate communication processes and the accessibility of the guidance to staff. To address the recommendation, we would like to see evidence that BLM has established procedures to ensure proper communication of changes or policies to the staff using BLM guidance, which includes having written procedures on how BLM publishes updates or communicates policy information, where guidance should be published in BLM's internal page, and the BLM officials who are in charge of that process. In fiscal year 2020, we have sent additional follow-up questions to the agency and are currently waiting for a response. We will continue to monitor the agency's actions to address this recommendation.

Recommendation: To promote forward-looking construction and rebuilding efforts while FEMA phases out most subsidies, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security should direct FEMA to consider amending NFIP minimum standards for floodplain management to incorporate, as appropriate, forward-looking standards, similar to the minimum standard adopted by the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force.

Agency: Department of Homeland Security
Status: Open

Comments: In August 2019, a FEMA official stated that FEMA intends to implement the recommendation in full eventually, but it is unlikely that it will happen as a cohesive effort in 2020, given other ongoing flood insurance reforms. As of August 2020, the status of this recommendation remains unchanged.

Recommendation: The Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of the Bureau of Land Management to take steps, including making changes to AFMSS, and in any new system that replaces AFMSS, to improve the ability of staff to identify wells that are a high priority for environmental inspection and to incorporate information on the inspection history of wells into the environmental inspection prioritization process.

Agency: Department of the Interior
Status: Open

Comments: BLM concurred with the recommendation and has initiated action to update its application for permit to drill (APD) permit processing system. This new system will be known as AFMSS II and, when fully implemented, may address GAO's recommendations. Currently, BLM's actions are insufficient to close this recommendation because they have not completed the updates to AFMISS. Specifically, BLM has not completed its update of AFMSS II to cover environmental inspections. We will continue to follow up with BLM as the agency continues to take action to improve its well tracking system. BLM said it intends to update AFMSS II to cover environmental issues and projects that the remaining AFMSS II related tasks ensuring the system's full deployment will be completed by March 2020. In October 2019, we requested an update on BLM's timeframes.

Recommendation: The Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of the Bureau of Land Management to take steps to ensure that environmental violations or problems and enforcement actions are documented in a consistent manner.

Agency: Department of the Interior
Status: Open

Comments: In August 2018, BLM informed us that the agency has taken several corrective actions to address the implementation of the recommendation, which will be accomplished related to the redesign of its Automated Fluid Minerals Support System (AFMSS). However, the agency reported that this system will not be completed until March 2020. In October 2019, we requested an update on BLM's timeframes.