Skip to main content

General Services Administration

Jump To:

Recent Reports

View More Reports

Open Recommendations (26 total)

GSA Commercial Platforms Program: Opportunities Exist to Improve Implementation

GAO-23-106128
Show
1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
General Services Administration The Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) should ensure that the Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, in consultation with the Small Business Administration, develops a more efficient process to enable participating agencies to include small business spend on the commercial platforms toward their small business goals. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Single Audits: Improving Federal Audit Clearinghouse Information and Usability Could Strengthen Federal Award Oversight

GAO-24-106173
Show
1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
General Services Administration The Administrator of GSA should, upon consulting with professional audit organizations, provide additional training to auditors and recipients to help ensure that they complete FAC data collection forms accurately, completely, and consistent with the audit report. (Recommendation 8)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Federal Real Property: Agencies Should Provide More Information About Increases in Deferred Maintenance and Repair

GAO-24-105485
Show
1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
General Services Administration The Administrator of GSA should ensure that the administration's budget materials or other documents provide more information to Congress and the public regarding the agency's deferred maintenance and repair backlog, including at a minimum, explanations for major changes from year to year, categories of assets included in DM&R estimates, and the proportion of DM&R estimates needed to support the mission. (Recommendation 10)
Open
GSA agreed with the recommendation and said it was developing a plan to address it.

Federal Real Property: DHS and GSA Need to Strengthen the Management of DHS Headquarters Consolidation

GAO-14-648
Show
1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
General Services Administration
Priority Rec.
In order to improve transparency and allow for more informed decision making by congressional leaders and DHS and GSA decision-makers, before requesting additional funding for the DHS headquarters consolidation project, after revising the DHS headquarters consolidation plans, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Administrator of the General Services Administration should work jointly to develop revised cost and schedule estimates for the remaining portions of the consolidation project that conform to GSA guidance and leading practices for cost and schedule estimation, including an independent evaluation of the estimates.
Open – Partially Addressed
The Department of Homeland Security Headquarters Consolidation Accountability Act of 2015 (Pub. L. No. 114-150) was enacted on April 29, 2016. Among other things, the act requires DHS, in coordination with GSA, to submit information to Congress about DHS headquarters consolidation efforts not later than 120 days of enactment. Required information includes a comprehensive assessment of property and facilities utilized by DHS in the National Capital Region, and an analysis that identifies the costs and benefits of leasing and construction alternatives for the remainder of the consolidation project. However, this report did not contain sufficient cost and schedule information for us to perform a comprehensive analysis to assess reliability. In July 2023, GSA provided us with a report from a planning and funding reset for the project, and in December 2023, DHS provided us with updates for its estimates. As of February 2024, we continue to collect documentation from GSA and DHS that supported the updated cost and schedule estimates. Once we obtain all available documentation related to the leading practices for cost and schedule estimation, we will determine the extent to which GSA and DHS have adhered to these leading practices. Continued DHS and GSA attention to following leading practices for capital planning and cost and schedule estimation is critical given the project's multi-billion dollar cost and impact on future departmental operations.

Federal Real Property: Agencies Should Provide More Information About Increases in Deferred Maintenance and Repair

GAO-24-105485
Show
1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
General Services Administration The Administrator of GSA should ensure that the administration develops a plan to address its DM&R backlog and identifies the funding and time frames needed to reduce this backlog in congressional budget requests, related reports to decision makers, or both. (Recommendation 11)
Open
GSA agreed with this recommendation and officials stated the agency was developing a plan to address it. In its fiscal year 2025 budget justification, published in March 2024, GSA provided some information on addressing its deferred maintenance and repair backlog, including through requests for obligational authority and maintenance funding. The budget justification noted that persistent underfunding of its capital investment program has and will likely continue to result in increases to the backlog. Further, GSA officials observed that eliminating the backlog is not achievable through this single year's budget request. However, GSA's request did not identify ways to address these issues or present a longer-term plan for how GSA intends to address its backlog, including funding amounts and timeframes. GAO will continue to monitor GSA's efforts to implement this recommendation.

Federal Real Property: GSA Should Improve Accuracy, Completeness, and Usefulness of Public Data

GAO-20-135
Show
1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
General Services Administration
Priority Rec.
The Administrator of GSA should coordinate with agencies to ensure that street address information in the public database is complete and correctly formatted. (Recommendation 1)
Open – Partially Addressed
GSA agreed with the recommendation. As of March 2024, GSA officials said that they continue to coordinate with OMB and the Federal Real Property Council (FRPC)-made up of real property officials from federal agencies-to improve the quality of address data. For example, GSA officials said that the agency is implementing a phased action plan that requires commitments from FRPC member agencies and assists them in accurately reporting geographic data elements. In addition, the FRPC created an agency scorecard for federal agencies that tracks five metrics related to data reliability. It shows that numerous agencies continue to struggle with aspects of ensuring the quality of their real property data. According to GSA officials, its effort to flag anomalous location data improved the ability to map building locations by 13 percent in the most recent data from 2023. In addition, GSA officials said that they continue to collaborate with OMB to issue implementing guidance regarding OMB's requirements for agencies to establish a data quality improvement program and conduct a third party review every three years. According to the officials, this guidance further details the FRPC's process and guidance for agencies to comply with OMB's required third party data validation review. To fully implement this recommendation, GSA needs to continue to work closely with OMB and FRPC member agencies to complete its efforts to improve real property data. Improving the reliability of this data would increase its usefulness to the public, such as for users who may be interested in acquiring or leasing assets.

Federal Spending Transparency: Opportunities Exist to Improve COVID-19 and Other Grant Subaward Data on USAspending.gov

GAO-24-106237
Show
1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
General Services Administration The Administrator of GSA should incorporate automated data validations or other controls that will address known FSRS data quality limitations, such as incorrect award amount entries, into the design and development plan for modernizing FSRS or for a successor system (Recommendation 1).
Open
GSA agreed with this recommendation. In January 2024, GSA officials told us that they will review existing plans for improving data entry in modernization of FSRS and determine any gaps that exist between existing planned improvements and findings of the report. GSA will solicit inter-agency feedback on potential improvements that may be implemented and incorporate final approved changes into the FSRS modernization approach plans by July 31, 2024. We will continue to monitor GSA's progress towards implementing this recommendation.

Federal Real Property: GSA Should Improve Accuracy, Completeness, and Usefulness of Public Data

GAO-20-135
Show
2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
General Services Administration The Administrator of GSA should coordinate with agencies to review V&V anomaly categories to better target incorrect data. (Recommendation 2)
Open – Partially Addressed
On August 4, 2023, GAO verified that GSA had partnered with the Office of Management and Budget to create an agency scorecard for federal agencies that tracks five metrics related to data reliability. GAO reviewed the scorecard and found a metric that relates to agency efforts to resolve V&V anomalies. It shows that the Department of Defense has not resolved its anomalous data in timely. GAO will continue to monitor GSA's efforts to improve the V&V process and agencies' responses to those efforts.
General Services Administration The Administrator of GSA should instruct each agency to apply a consistent, risk-based approach in determining which, if any, assets or asset-specific information should be withheld from public release. (Recommendation 4)
Open – Partially Addressed
In August 2023, GSA provided GAO with documented evidence that it revised FRPP data dictionary that GSA partnered with the FRPC data governance working group to create. The updated data dictionary instructed agencies to apply a consistent and risk-based process to the data being withheld from the public. GSA officials said that they would work with their partners to determine if the current guidance effectively addresses this recommendation. GAO agreed to revisit the recommendation in spring 2024.

Federal Spending Transparency: Opportunities Exist to Improve COVID-19 and Other Grant Subaward Data on USAspending.gov

GAO-24-106237
Show
1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
General Services Administration The Administrator of GSA should provide additional guidance to help prime recipients improve the quality of their subaward data submissions, such as actions to prevent duplicative reporting (Recommendation 2).
Open
GSA agreed with this recommendation. In January 2024, GSA officials told us that GSA has developed an approach for addressing gaps in help documentation and communications for both legacy FSRS and modernized FSRS systems. GSA plans to deliver improved guidance by May 31, 2024. We will continue to monitor GSA's progress toward implementing this recommendation.
View More Recommendations

Related Pages