Summary: The State Department could potentially save millions of dollars at its overseas posts by adopting practices to reduce residential housing and furniture costs. These practices include (1) using relocation companies and similar service providers to search for housing and negotiate leases to reduce in-house support costs and shift some property preparation and related maintenance expenses to landlords, (2) providing employees with housing allowances to select their homes rather than maintaining a housing pool of government leases and preassigned residences, and (3) shipping employees' household effects and acquiring furniture overseas as an alternative to operating an extensive government-buying and inventory program. GAO found that State has not based its current approach to providing overseas residential housing and furniture on a comparative cost analysis. Private sector practices suggest that two options should be considered to reduce costs associated with residential furniture. First, State could ship employees' household effects as its primary means of furnishing residences. Second, State could give overseas posts the option of acquiring furniture on the local market.
