Followup Taken by GSA and Other Agencies To Assure Appropriate Use of Real Property Conveyed to Non-Federal Recipients

In a previous review GAO reported to the Administrator of General Services and to heads of three other agencies that a number of surplus properties conveyed to non-Federal recipients for (1) health and education, (2) park and recreation, and (3) airport purposes, were not being used in compliance with conditions of conveyance. GAO recommended that the Administrator and the other agency heads improve the management of the surplus property conveyance. GAO performed this followup report to determine the status of the 47 properties conveyed for education, health, and recreation purposes which it identified in the previous report.

In its review of the status of the 47 properties, GAO found that: (1) 9 had been returned to the Government or paid for by the recipient; (2) 11 showed no action or insufficient action to bring them into compliance with conveyed conditions; (3) 19 had revised utilization plans and/or some indication of use compliance; and (4) 8 had insufficient information to clearly show the current use of property. Although the followup work was limited to previously identified and reported noncompliance cases, it appears that the lack of compliance with use restrictions may be a problem area which warrants increased attention by the agencies responsible for monitoring the use of such property and by GSA. Accordingly, GAO initiated a broader review to evaluate, on a total program basis, how surplus real property donated with use restrictions is actually being used by non-Federal recipients and how well responsible Federal agencies are monitoring such use.