New Scrutiny on Protecting Federal Buildings
The state of the Federal Protective Service (FPS), which is charged with protecting about 9,000 federal buildings around the country, is in the spotlight after recent congressional hearings and report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
That report raised questions after undercover investigators were able to smuggle prohibited items including pepper spray, knives, and batons, into about half the federal buildings tested.
“We know we need to increase our ability to detect prohibited items,” said FPS Director Kris Cline in testimony before the House Transportation Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. “A big priority for us right now is to get this fixed.”
Director Cline added FPS is looking at numerous avenues to improve detection, including collaborating on training with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
There are also concerns about rising homelessness and crime and its impact on federal building security, as many federal buildings are in the heart of big cities.
“Earlier this year, Representatives Chavez-DeRemer, Ezell, and I sent letters to the Director of FPS and the GSA Administrator to assess how the increasing levels of crime, drug abuse, and homelessness have impacted the protection of federal buildings and the safety of those that work and visit them. The letters also raised concerns regarding how increasing crime rates may be leading to more empty and unused federal building space,” said Subcommittee Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA) in his opening statement.
Tech Concerns
Another issue raised is the technology used to track Protective Service Officers (PSOs), who are the contract guards hired by FPS to guard certain federal facilities.
GAO noted that the “Post Tracking System” (PTS) meant to track such officers has significant flaws and struggles to determine whether a guard is posted at a post or whether the guard has qualifications to detect dangerous weapons. PTS has been in use since 2018.
“The nationwide deployment of PTS is ongoing; however, the system is not fully functional in any region because of technology, data reliability, and interoperability issues identified by FPS and security guard contractor officials,” said GAO Director of Physical Infrastructure David Marroni, who added that the flaws in PTS affect the FPS ability to properly conduct oversight.
Hiring Concerns
Hiring also got some attention at the hearing. FPS has a shortage of PSOs and full-time officers and that has forced the agency to temporarily close field agencies.
Director Cline said FPS is currently short 409 officers, down from approximately 500 vacancies in early 2023.
FPS also introduced a retention incentive for uniformed law enforcement at the GS-12 level and below.