Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's (FDIC) decision to close its South Brunswick, New Jersey, consolidated office (SBCO) and transfer the office's functions to the new Northeast Service Center in Hartford, Connecticut. GAO noted that: (1) the decision to close SBCO and transfer its functions to a new regional service center was part of a much broader FDIC decision to downsize and reorganize the Division of Liquidation due to the decline in bank failures; (2) the downsizing and reorganization of the Division was headed by the Division's Director, who established two task forces to advise and assist him in carrying out the reorganization; (3) the first task force recommended to the Director that SBCO be the site of the service center for the Northeastern Region because of its location, inventory of assets, and personnel; (4) Hartford was selected as the regional site because it was the most central and economically viable option; (5) the Director decided not to follow the recommendation of the first task force because he saw no compelling factual reasons to keep the regional office in South Brunswick; and (6) SBCO employees believed that SBCO was the best site for the regional office because of its superior performance, but the Director said that performance was difficult to measure and was not considered in the site selection process.
