Federal Real Property
Corps of Engineers Needs to Improve the Reliability of Its Real Property Disposal Data
GAO-08-349, May 9, 2008
Additional Materials:
Contact:
(202) 512-3000
contact@gao.gov
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov
Unreliable real property data has been a long-standing problem for federal landholding agencies. Under the President's real property initiative, agencies are being held accountable for, among other things, improving accuracy of their real property inventory and disposing of unneeded property. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), the fourth largest landholding agency, uses the Real Estate Management Information System (REMIS) for recording its civil works inventory. GAO was asked to determine whether REMIS could provide reliable information on the Corps' civil works land disposals from fiscal years 1996 through 2006. GAO's work involved comparison analyses of REMIS disposal data and other Corps reported disposal data, reviews of Corps' real property policies and guidance, and interviews with Corps officials at headquarters, three divisions, four districts, and the Real Estate Systems National Center (RESNC), which manages REMIS.
REMIS did not provide reliable information on the Corps' civil works land disposals from fiscal years 1996 through 2006, or on the land that the Corps owned as of September 30, 2006. Unreliable land disposal data impair the usefulness of REMIS as a record of current inventory and as a source of data that would be useful for budgeting purposes and the strategic management of landholdings. The following contributed to problems with data reliability: The Corps did not maintain internal controls over REMIS disposal data. Corps policy held district real estate officials accountable for the reliability of REMIS data, but in two of four districts GAO contacted the individual recording land disposal data was also checking the data against documentation such as titles and transfer forms. Dividing data entry and data checking responsibilities is an essential internal control activity. Corps policy also required division real estate staff to ensure the reliability of REMIS data recorded by their constituent districts, but the three divisions GAO contacted did not review REMIS disposal data. The design of the REMIS disposal module, a software application that captures disposal data that users enter, did not follow a best practice, commonly referred to as data normalization. Data normalization organizes data according to rules designed to minimize duplication and redundancies. By not following this best practice, users querying REMIS faced the problem of retrieving inconsistent data. For example, when RESNC officials queried REMIS for specific real property information by district, RESNC officials obtained results that differed from those obtained by district officials. Land disposal dates in REMIS were missing or sometimes represented the date when district real estate officials entered the land disposal rather than when the disposal occurred. The vast majority, or about 89 percent, of all disposal records within REMIS did not have disposal dates. When the records contained dates, large numbers of disposals (accounting for about 54,000 acres) in fiscal years 2005 and 2006 had occurred as early as 1955. Guidance for processing land disposals in REMIS was unclear. For example, guidance issued in 2004 did not indicate whether some types of disposals, such as transfers to other federal agencies, required a disposal date. New disposal guidance issued in 2007 was also unclear because RESNC, which revised the guidance, did not revise the data entry screens in REMIS. As a result, the guidance and the data entry screens were inconsistent. While the guidance called for entering a disposal date, the REMIS data entry screens did not clearly indicate whether or where users should enter the date. RESNC provided limited REMIS training; 3 of 32 districts that use REMIS received introductory training in 2006 and 2007. RESNC plans to train the New England District and at least one other district in 2008. RESNC also sponsored conferences to update systems administrators and other users on key changes to REMIS, but conference presenters discussed aspects of REMIS that some attendees, including real estate officials from 2 of the districts GAO contacted, considered too advanced--especially for those who had never received introductory training.
Status Legend:
Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
- In Process
- Open
- Closed - implemented
- Closed - not implemented
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: To improve the reliability of REMIS land disposal data for determining how much land the Corps currently owns and for budgeting and strategic land management purposes, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Commanding General and Chief of Engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to implement effective internal controls, including segregation of duties and review, over the REMIS land disposal process by incorporating such control into the Corps' real estate policies at those districts and divisions identified in this report and others, where appropriate.
Agency Affected: Department of Defense
Status: Open
Comments: According to DOD and Corps, the modernized Real Estate Management Information System (REMIS) will contain internal control mechanisms to help ensure quality and accuracy of disposal data. However, the REMIS modernization has been rescheduled for implementation in December 2012--a slip of 18-months from its earlier estimated completion date of May 2011. In the interim, the Corps has established temporary, role-based authorities over the disposal process that requires 3 staff from accounting, finance, and real estate to review property disposal information in REMIS.
Recommendation: To improve the reliability of REMIS land disposal data for determining how much land the Corps currently owns and for budgeting and strategic land management purposes, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Commanding General and Chief of Engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to implement the data normalization best practice in the REMIS database with respect to disposal dates.
Agency Affected: Department of Defense
Status: Open
Comments: According to the Corps, efforts are underway to remove redundant disposal records from Real Estate Management Information System (REMIS) and update REMIS user manuals. The Districts have been provided updated guidance and user training is planned for late fiscal year 2009, which will address the proper entry of disposal data. REMIS disposal screens have been redesigned to capture the appropriate data. However the updated user manuals that explain the disposal process will not be available until after the completion of REMIS modernization. The availability of the user manuals is being delayed to help ensure that the manuals address all implemented changes. Although the actual date when these disposal changes will be completed has not been determined, REMIS modernization is scheduled to last through fiscal year 2011.
Recommendation: To improve the reliability of REMIS land disposal data for determining how much land the Corps currently owns and for budgeting and strategic land management purposes, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Commanding General and Chief of Engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to correct the disposal records that were created in REMIS as part of the efforts to adjust the inventory.
Agency Affected: Department of Defense
Status: Open
Comments: Districts have been tasked to perform quality checks of their disposal data and input any missing disposal data, if available. The Corps' Real Estate Systems National Center (RESNC) has run anomaly reports of existing REMIS disposal data and has sent those anomaly reports to districts for resolution. However, as of August 2010, RESNC has not verified that Districts have made corrections to the incorrect fiscal year 2005 and 2006 disposal data that we identified in our report. Officials said they would verify by October 2010 that the incorrect disposal data have been corrected and would notify us of the results.
Recommendation: To improve the reliability of REMIS land disposal data for determining how much land the Corps currently owns and for budgeting and strategic land management purposes, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Commanding General and Chief of Engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to issue clear guidance for entering land disposal dates in the REMIS land disposal process.
Agency Affected: Department of Defense
Status: Open
Comments: Updated user manuals describing the new disposal process in REMIS modernization will not be available until the new system is implemented in December 2012. In the interim, the Corps has changed its processes and procedures for disposing of land. All districts have been notified of the change. Specifically, as of August 2010, the Corps had developed an electronic form of the disposal order that contains the disposal date. When individuals enter the disposal date on the electronic form, the date is automatically placed into REMIS resulting in one disposal date entry. Further, the Corps eliminated the REMIS disposal screen that had required users to enter disposal dates. Staff no longer are required to input disposal dates into two screens.
Recommendation: To improve the reliability of REMIS land disposal data for determining how much land the Corps currently owns and for budgeting and strategic land management purposes, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Commanding General and Chief of Engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide and require introductory and periodic refresher training that covers how to correctly enter land disposal dates in REMIS.
Agency Affected: Department of Defense
Status: Closed - Implemented
Comments: The Corps continues to provide on-site training at district offices and hosts Real Estate Management Information System (REMIS) workshops. During 2010, the Corps' Real Estate Systems National Center provided on-site REMIS training to 4 districts and augmented the training the Corps provided to several other districts since 2006. The REMIS training was comprehensive and covered the land disposal processes and procedures. Long term, however, such on-site introductory and refresher training to all regions costs approximately $3 million to $6 million annually, and therefore, unsustainable, according to Corps officials. Instead, the Corps awarded a contract for about $500,000 to develop self-paced training modules covering all aspects of real estate, including the disposition of real property. This training is scheduled to be fully implemented in December 2012 when the REMIS Modernization is rolled out.