Between fiscal years 2017 and 2021, agencies implemented just 22% of the more than 25,000 recommendations offered by the Federal Protective Service and closed out 70% without addressing them. Leif Skoogfors/Getty Images
Senate approves bills to boost oversight and security for federal buildings
Lawmakers look to spur action after agencies have ignored most recommendations to make their buildings safer.
The Senate has approved bills that would force agencies to respond to recommendations to keep their employees safe and track when their pricey projects are behind schedule or over budget.
The Improving Federal Building Security Act, introduced by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., (S. 3613) would require federal agencies to respond to Federal Protective Service recommendations within 90 days of their issuance. The measure would not require agencies to adopt the suggestions, but would force agencies to provide a written explanation detailing the rejection to the Homeland Security Department.
In 2022, the FPS and investigators with the Government Accountability Office told members of Congress that agencies frequently ignore recommendations to improve safety at federal facilities, often due to funding constraints. Between fiscal years 2017 and 2021, agencies implemented just 22% of the more than 25,000 recommendations offered by FPS and closed out 70% without addressing them.
FPS and GAO officials said that agencies typically pointed to an inability to fund the fixes to explain their failure to heed the advice. Lawmakers expressed particular concern for the unaddressed security shortfalls in light of the wave of threats against employees at various agencies in recent years.
The bill’s passage followed President Biden issuing an executive order in November aimed at modernizing an interagency committee tasked with evaluating and improving security at federal buildings.
“Every day, Americans across the country visit federal buildings for work and to access critical services, and they deserve to feel safe and secure in those spaces,” Peters said. “This commonsense, bipartisan bill will ensure that federal agencies are following the most up-to-date security recommendations to protect both these facilities and the people in them.”
The new, Senate-backed bill would require DHS to develop a way to monitor responses to the protective service’s recommendations, and the department must issue an annual report on agency responses to Congress. Scott called for the measure’s “immediate passage” in the House.
“Federal agencies must do everything necessary to serve the American people while keeping public servants safe,” Scott said.
The Senate approved the measure unanimously early Saturday morning after it voted to avert a shutdown. It also approved by voice vote the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act (S. 1258), a bill that would require the Office of Management and Budget to submit annual reports on any federally funded agency project that is $1 billion or more over budget or five years or more behind schedule. It would have to detail the reasons for the delays or cost overruns, as well as updated estimates on the final completion date and price tag.
The bill “ensures greater transparency and accountability to guarantee taxpayers are protected from funding blank checks for failed projects,” Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said of her bill last year.
A companion bill has bipartisan support in the House, but has yet to receive any action in the chamber. The federal buildings security bill is now also awaiting a vote in the House.
Erich Wagner contributed to this report.