The U.S. General Services Administration has come under scrutiny for its ineffective oversight of operations and maintenance contractors, which has led to delays and incomplete projects.
In fiscal year 2023, the GSA’s Public Buildings Services arm spent approximately $1.15 billion on 340 operations and maintenance contracts nationwide, according to a May 3 report from the Office of the Inspector General. The OIG’s Office of Audits, however, found that contractors did not complete 34 of the 49 work orders it sampled for six GSA-owned buildings in Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Texas. Contractors, in some cases, “marked work orders as complete even when the work was not actually completed,” the report states.
An example cited in the report involves a leaking pipe valve in the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York City. Despite being marked as complete by the contractor in November 2022, investigators from the watchdog agency found a blue recycling bin in the control room collecting water from the leaking valve during a tour in January 2023. Since the valve was located above and in front of the motor control center, the failure to address such a leak, a Public Buildings Service equipment specialist said, could potentially cause mechanical parts failure, short circuits, corrosion of electrical components and possible fires, according to the report.
The report also highlighted that contractors did not complete 21 of the 49 work orders in a timely manner. For instance, investigators visiting the Suitland Federal Center in Suitland, Maryland, heard a screeching sound from a supply fan in the emergency generator room during a visit last June, seven months after an equipment specialist at the PBS submitted a work order to replace it. The contractor did not replace the fan belt until Nov. 22, 2023, roughly a year after the initial work order service request.
The OIG further criticized contractors for not always completing quality control inspections despite their contracts requiring them to do so. This has hindered operations and maintenance contractors from effectively monitoring their contract performance to identify and correct any deficiencies, the report says, pointing to deficient contractor quality control inspections in four federal buildings, including the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in Boston, the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York City, the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center in Georgia and the Suitland Federal Center in Maryland.
PBS personnel interviewed by OIG officials said they believe contractor staffing levels are insufficient to cover their contract requirements, especially in large buildings “that have high volumes of work orders each month, which can be difficult to complete timely without sufficient staffing.” The PBS staff noted that some buildings contain millions of square feet of space and thousands of building assets to maintain, per the OIG report.
Based on interviews with contracting officers’ representatives for six contracts it sampled, the OIG said the PBS also has poor oversight of its contractors and that “they were generally unaware” of their contracts’ quality control plan requirements and the O&M contractors’ quality control inspection responsibilities. Four of the six contracting officers’ representatives for the sampled buildings never reviewed the O&M contractors’ quality control inspections, despite requirements to submit them each month, the OIG report says.
The OIG’s conclusion echoes findings from at least three previous audits, including failures to consistently verify that contractors were changing air filters or meeting preventive maintenance requirements for air handling units in GSA-controlled facilities.
The OIG provided five recommendations for the PBS to address these issues. These include emphasizing the evaluation of O&M contractors’ proposed staffing and communicating with on-site PBS staff prior to contract to ensure contract terms and conditions can be fully met; confirmation and enforcement of contractor compliance with personnel requirements; ensuring the O&M contract language clearly specifies time requirements for routine service requests and communication of these requirements to contractors; thorough reviews of contract’s quality control plan requirements; and improved oversight of O&M contractors’ compliance with the terms and conditions of GSA contracts.
In response to the report, PBS Commissioner Elliot Doomes said the agency concurred with the OIG’s recommendations and is “committed to monitoring and evaluating its maintenance contracts” so that federally owned facilities under the GSA’s custody and control are “maintained in good condition.”
