Federal real property, strategic focus needed to help manage vast and diverse warehouse portfolio

" GAO has identified managing the federal government's real property portfolio-which includes warehouses- as a high-risk area, due to long-standing problems such as reliance on long-term leasing. In 2013, federal civilian agencies reported that they occupied approximately 19,000 warehouses consisting of approximately 90-million square feet of space. GAO was asked to examine the management of federal civilian warehouses. This report examines (1) available information on the characteristics of federal warehouses held or leased by civilian agencies; (2) the challenges selected civilian agencies report in acquiring, managing, and disposing of warehouse space; and (3) the extent to which GSA has fulfilled its federal real property leadership role with respect to warehouses. GAO analyzed fiscal year 2013 FRPP data on warehouses held or leased by federal civilian agencies; visited 30 GSA, Interior, and DOE warehouses-selected to reflect a variety of uses and sizes-and interviewed officials from the three agencies about real property data, the characteristics of warehouses, challenges to warehouse management, and GSA's real-property leadership role. "