FRPA to Repeat Important Survey of Federal Professionals

The Federal Real Property Association (FRPA) is currently polling federal real property professionals to update its survey on compliance with Executive Order 13327 on Federal Real Property Asset Management (EO 13327). FRPA will present the findings of the updated survey at the organization’s Professional Development Conference, October 17 and 18, 2006 at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington DC.

Last year’s survey, co-sponsored by VISTA, indicated that 44 percent of respondents did not know their organization's President's Management Agenda (PMA) scorecard ranking as it applied EO 13327 compliance. Despite this finding, 42 percent nonetheless believed they would achieve compliance in 2006.

Among those polled that did know their PMA scorecard ranking, the majority (52 percent) reported that their Current Status was "yellow." Most (58 percent) were given a "green" rating in "Progress in Implementing" the initiative, although 35 percent were at "yellow."

Fully 91 percent said that these proceeds from disposal of excess inventory should be returned to the agencies, rather than to the general funds of the Treasury. (Editor’s Note: This position was also supported by a separate survey conducted in part by the Association of Government Accountants (AGA). For more information, see the article “AGA Survey Cites Lack of Incentives as Real Property Stumbling Block” elsewhere in this issue of “Managing Change.”)

As a general trend, respondents agreed that guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is responsible for ensuring compliance with EO 13327, was insufficient, and timelines for compliance may be inadequate given the scope of the order.

Since that survey was taken, agency performance on the real property PMA initiative has improved.

In a recent Government Executive article titled “E-gov scores improve slightly on latest management score card” (http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0806/080106m1.htm) reporter Jenny Mandel said, “The (Bush) administration also touted advancement in an initiative to improve agencies' management of their real property assets, where progress at five agencies wiped away all traces of red.”

According to the latest reported PMA results (June 2006), only the Department of Agriculture is still at “yellow” in both Current Status and Progress in Implementation of the Real Property Asset Management. The State Department, GSA, Veterans Administration and NASA, all received a “green” scorecard ranking on both aspects of the initiative.

General Accountability Office (GAO) reviewers stress the importance of understandable measurements in compliance with PMA initiatives. According to Mandel’s Government Executive article, “GAO reviewers said ‘it will be important for OMB to ensure that the initiative's strategic, long-term goals clearly articulate what OMB intends to measure so that it can assess whether agencies are achieving these goals and demonstrate whether agencies are using taxpayer dollars effectively.’”

Most recent results of the PMA may be downloaded by visiting http://www.whitehouse.gov/results/agenda/scorecard.html

A PDF of a White Paper detailing all the survey findings from last year’s FRPA EO 13327 compliance survey is available on the VISTA Web site at http://www.vistatsi.com/news_surveys.html