Public Sector Facilities Stewardship

Since 1986 the GAO has tried to improve public sector facilities stewardship and fundamental management practices. To date, a critical lack of leadership and capability remains a fundamental problem.

Public sector facilities stewardship, optimizing the capital reinvestment and best value outcomes associated with the planning, procurement, and project delivery of repair, renewal, or new construction of physical structures, has proven problematic for public sector real property owners.

For decades, federal and other public sector real property owners had little actionable information as to the inventory and condition of their real property assets. While far from compete, most public departments and agencies now have some idea as to their deferred maintenance levels and some capability to prioritize those needs on a project basis.

Nonetheless, not a single federal department or agency has a formal and consistently deployed integrated LEAN process to enable the on-time, and on-budget, best value delivery of quality repair, renovation, maintenance, and new construction projects, Key missing elements, as partially outlined below, make it impossible for a single federal public sector owner to provide requisite levels of financial visibility and assure available funds are spent efficiently.

GSA routinely…. does not report the projects’ final costs or how much project costs and schedules were revised

GAO Report – 2019

CRITICAL ISSUES WITH FEDERAL FACILITIES MANAGEMENT AND STEWARDSHIP

  • Failure to provide leadership to drive requisite change management
  • Failure to use locally researched detailed unit price cost data to provide true cost visibility
  • Failure to consistently require and implement LEAN best value construction services planning, procurement, and project delivery
  • Failure to educate, train, and continuously government facilities management teams and oversight groups …

The GAO has issued multiple reports on this topic over the past thirty (30) years, yet resolution of these issue remains elusive at the economic and environmental expense of us all.

Tools, support services ,and technology are now readily available to resolve many of these issues. ALl that is required is capable leadership. The public sector must stop viewing the built environment as a commodity and simply a cost. We can no no longer afford to have public sector facilities professionals act in reactive rather than proactive ways. .

Collect, share, study, evaluate, and deploy innovative, yet proven, best management practices to maximize the efficiency of facilities renewal, maintenance, or new construction activities.

REFERENCES:

GAO Report – Automated Operations, Maintenance and Facility Management]
Published: Nov 13, 1986. Publicly Released: Nov 13, 1986

GAO Report – Facilities Management Reorganization Is Progressing, but Funding Remains a Challenge
GAO-05-369: Published: Apr 25, 2005. Publicly Released: May 25, 2005

GAO Report – Actions Needed to Improve Poor Conditions of Facilities and Equipment That Affect Maintenance Timeliness and Efficiency
GAO-19-242: Published: Apr 29, 2019. Publicly Released: Apr 29, 2019

GAO Report – More Consideration of Operations and Maintenance Costs Could Better Inform the Design Excellence Program
GAO-18-420: Published: May 22, 2018. Publicly Released: May 22, 2018

GAO Report – GSA Can Improve Its Communication about and Assessment of Major Construction Projects
GAO-20-144: Published: Dec 12, 2019. Publicly Released: Dec 12, 2019

GAO Report – Substantial Efforts Needed to Achieve Greater Progress on High-Risk Areas
GAO-19-157SP: Published: Mar 6, 2019. Publicly Released: Mar 6, 2019

GAO Report – Billions Are Needed for Repairs and Alterations
GGD-00-98: Published: Mar 30, 2000. Publicly Released: Apr 11, 2000

GAO Report – GSA Should Establish Goals and Performance Measures to Manage the Smart Buildings Program
GAO-18-200: Published: Jan 30, 2018. Publicly Released: Jan 30, 2018

GAO Report -Improved Transparency and Long-term Plan Needed to Clarify Capital Funding Priorities
GAO-12-646: Published: Jul 12, 2012. Publicly Released: Aug 2, 2012.
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