Audit of GSA’s Compliance with the Geospatial Data Act of 2018

Why We Performed This Audit

We performed this audit pursuant to Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (GDA) Section 759(c), Audits, which requires the inspector general of each covered agency to conduct an audit, not less than once every 2 years, of the covered agency’s compliance with the GDA. Our audit objective was to assess GSA’s fulfillment of its responsibilities under the GDA. Specifically, we assessed GSA’s compliance with the 13 requirements listed in GDA Section 759(a), Covered Agency Responsibilities.

What We Found

GSA is not fully complying with the GDA. We found that GSA’s geospatial datasets are not fully reliable, limiting their usefulness. Specifically, GSA’s geospatial datasets contain inaccurate latitude and longitude coordinates. Additionally, some of the data contained in GSA’s geospatial datasets has data quality deficiencies. Since the datasets are not fully reliable, they are less useful at meeting the GDA’s goals to spur economic growth, advance science, and improve public health and other services. We also found that GSA does not have an effective process to meet the GDA’s requirement to search for existing geospatial data before procuring new data sources, which could lead to duplicative and unnecessary purchases of geospatial data.

What We Recommend

1. Correct the geospatial data quality deficiencies identified in our report.
2. Implement controls to ensure that the Inventory of Owned and Leased Properties (IOLP) and Federal Real Property Profile Management System (FRPP MS) datasets contain accurate latitude and longitude coordinates based on each property’s physical location except for those properties with a clear exemption for national security.
3. Strengthen the data validation process for the IOLP and FRPP MS datasets to address the geospatial data quality deficiencies identified in our report.
4. Establish a process to ensure GSA searches existing geospatial data before procuring new data, including:
   1. Ensuring the Geographic Information Systems Center of Excellence is notified of future geospatial data needs prior to awarding a new contract for geospatial data.
   2. Improving Agency-wide awareness of the requirement to search existing geospatial data prior to awarding a new contract for geospatial data.

In response to our report, GSA partially concurred with our recommendations. While GSA agreed with Recommendation 3, it partially agreed with Recommendation 1 and did not agree with Recommendations 2 and 4. GSA’s comments are included in their entirety in Appendix D.