Coast Guard Personnel Records Storage Areas Need Fire Protection Systems

Gao ID: GGD-81-72 April 22, 1981

The U.S. Coast Guard maintains over 6,000 officer and over 30,000 enlisted personnel records in two rooms at the Transpoint Building in Washington, D.C. GAO reviewed the official personnel records of the Coast Guard to determine how efficiently the records were being maintained.

GAO believes that the Coast Guard should acquire fire protection systems to protect its records. Although the government leases the Transpoint Building, government-occupied space is subject to the building fire safety standards established by the Public Buildings Service (PBS). According to PBS criteria, only one of the two rooms used to store the records requires an automatic sprinkler protection system. However, GAO believes that the importance of the records and the expense of replacing them warrants installation of the system in both rooms. The Coast Guard stated that it intends to install a fire protection system during the upcoming renovation of the building.

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.

Director: Martin M. Ferber Team: General Accounting Office: National Security and International Affairs Division Phone: (202) 275-8412


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