New Audit Announcements

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The Department of Transportation (DOT)—excluding the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)—maintains approximately 300 office properties across the country, comprising over 3 million square feet. Since 2003, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified Federal real property management as a high-risk area, citing long-standing management challenges—including maintaining too much excess and underutilized property. These concerns, among others, have prompted widespread attention and reform efforts across the Federal Government. In April 2018, our audit of FAA’s office and warehouse leases found that the Agency’s office leases were significantly over its utilization standard. This resulted in FAA paying, at times, above average market rates to lease under-utilized space. Given the results of that audit, GAO’s high-risk designation, sustained Governmentwide focus on reform in this area, and the potential to improve the efficiency of departmental expenditures, our audit objective is to assess DOT’s utilization of its office space.