Billions needed for repair of federal buildings

Nearly 5,600 repairs, at a cost of about $4 billion, need to be made to federal buildings operated by the General Services Administration, according to a General Accounting Office official.

More than 900 buildings-54 percent of the GSA inventory-were in need of repair as of October 1999, said Bernard L. Ungar, director of GAO's Government Business Operations Issues in testimony Tuesday before the House Transportation Subcommittee on Public Buildings ("Federal Buildings: Billions are Needed for Repairs and Alterations," T-GGD-00-73).

About half of the buildings need repairs costing less than $500,000, and many buildings have already received funding for repairs. A small group of buildings accounts for 60 percent of the total of $4 billion needed for fixes.

GAO has been documenting building repair problems since 1991, and the backlog continues to grow, Ungar said. While GSA is limited by funding restrictions and poor data, the agency could still do more to improve the backlog of repairs at federal buildings.

"We recognize that funding limitations could be a major reason why needed repairs and alterations are not getting done. However, our work shows that GSA has not done all it could to address the building disinvestment problem," said Ungar.

For starters, GSA's computerized database of repair and alteration work is not up-to-date, Ungar said, pointing out instances of duplicate work items, inaccurate construction cost estimates and miscategorized work items.

GSA's project-by-project mindset still hasn't been replaced with a comprehensive strategic approach, GAO found, but the agency is moving in the right direction by developing a three- to five-year investment strategy and including the repairs and alterations program in its annual performance plan.

GSA officials now "recognize the importance of effective repair and alteration program management and the need to be accountable for producing measurable results," Ungar said.

Public Buildings Service Commissioner Robert Peck noted that more than half of GSA's buildings are more than 50 years old. GSA is requesting $721 million for building repairs and alterations next year. Peck also said the service prioritizes repair projects based on the return on investment of repairs.

"If we invest dollars in a building, we want to make sure that the investment will bring increased revenues," Peck said, adding that historic preservation is also a consideration for repair decisions.