Federal Facilities

SEC Operations Center Lease Appears Reasonable Gao ID: GGD-92-39BR February 14, 1992

In September 1991, an anonymous Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) employee alleged to Congress that the agency's relocation of office and computer space to Alexandria, Virginia, was inappropriate or questionable in several respects. GAO found that the allegations had little basis in fact and that the operations center lease appears to be a reasonable solution to several SEC facilities problems. Leasing space in Alexandria rather than downtown Washington, D.C., should result in long-term savings for the government. However, GAO also concludes that SEC's plans to enter into a succeeding lease for its present headquarters and to renovate that space should be more closely coordinated with the General Services Administration (GSA) so that the government's interests are protected should SEC select a new headquarters site and GSA take over the present headquarters.

GAO found that: (1) leasing the Operations Center in Alexandria, Virginia, compared to more expensive space in the District of Columbia will save SEC about $900,000 annually despite the additional costs of operating the new center; (2) SEC should recover its initial cost of moving in about 4 years; (3) SEC did not move its computers to allow the Chairman to relocate his office, but to allow more modern and spacious computer facilities that were less costly to lease than the headquarters facilities were and to provide an off-site, emergency backup facility for its computer systems; (4) only one office at the Operations Center has a direct overhead view of a trash dumpster, but some SEC employees, including minorities, have partial views of dump trucks; (5) the Chairman did not plan to build a fitness center as part of his new office, but SEC plans to install a fitness center open to all employees in the headquarters building; (6) the Virginia facility has access to public transportation, although not as conveniently as at the headquarters building, and free parking is available; and (7) the risk of files being lost or misplaced during transportation is low since, SEC requires employees to hand-carry sensitive documents between headquarters and the new facility.

Recommendations

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