Increasing Public Use and Benefits from Surplus Federal Real Property

Since 1944, the federal government has transferred surplus real property to public agencies and nonprofit institutions, usually at no cost to the recipient. The property, including land, buildings, and other facilities such as airfields, is no longer needed by any federal agency, and the transfers are intended to provide continued public benefit through specific uses in health, education, recreation, airport, and wildlife conservation. The General Services Administration (GSA) is responsible for the surplus real property program.

Although some transfers of surplus federal real properties have benefited the public, many of the grantees have not fulfilled their contracts with the federal government to provide public benefits. Of 62 properties examined, 27 had not been developed or were not being used as intended, and 31 properties had been only partially developed or used. Twenty-six of the properties were being used for unauthorized purposes, primarily leasing for agricultural or related purposes for which revenues were derived. Federal agencies do not adequately monitor property use and do not always advise grantees of noncompliance. Federal agencies also have not acted promptly and seldom exercised their option for reverting property and considering alternative disposal actions as a means of achieving continued public benefits. GSA has not played a strong enough role in controlling and administering the program to ensure that public benefits are derived; it lacks accurate inventory records and does not systematically review activities of monitoring agencies.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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