Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed the General Services Administration's (GSA) efforts to complete needed repairs and alterations in federally owned buildings.
GAO found that: (1) over half of the 1,600 federally owned buildings were at least 40 years old and needed major improvements; (2) deferred repairs and alterations at federal buildings resulted in further damage that could have been avoided; (3) older buildings require greater capital investment, such as a major overhaul every 20 years; (4) older buildings generally lack the electrical and telecommunication capabilities to accommodate personal computers and other modern data and word processing technologies; (5) persistent problems with building heating and cooling systems adversely affected employee morale and productivity; (6) funding limitations and ineffective GSA management were the primary reasons why needed repairs and alterations were not made; (7) the Federal Buildings Fund financed office space costs, including repairs and alterations, but rent restrictions reduced its revenue by about $4 billion; (8) emphasis on budget deficit reduction, combined with the present federal budget structure, often limited the amount of funding available for capital projects; and (9) GSA operated on a project-by-project basis, and lacked a comprehensive, long-term strategy for effectively meeting building repair and alteration needs.
