A General Services Administration official told Congress Friday that the federal government bought 47,409 vehicles last year, in testimony he used to defend GSA’s program of buying vehicles and leasing them to other federal agencies.
Bill Toth, director of GSA’s office of fleet management, argued to a House panel that the purchase actually saved taxpayers money because of the discount GSA gets when buying from manufacturers.
“[I]n fiscal year 2015, GSA’s negotiated discount on light-duty vehicles averaged 18.9 percent below dealer invoice,” he told a House Oversight subcommittee. “Given GSA’s FY 2015 procurement of 47,409 vehicles, this discount saved the American taxpayer an estimated $306 million.”
The hearing was called by transportation and public assets subcommittee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla. He cited a Government Accountability Office report from last year that said GSA appears to be leasing too many cars to other agencies, since many aren’t being used that much.
“Half of federal vehicles that GAO examined in May 2015 traveled less than 600 miles that month,” Mica said in his prepared remarks.
Mica noted that the GAO report found that many agencies weren’t able to justify their decision obtain these vehicles.
“Agencies that GAO most recently reviewed have not consistently followed best practices such as analyzing costs as a basis for determining whether to lease or buy,” Mica said. “In a sampling of just a handful of these agencies’ leased vehicles, GAO found 1,500 (1 in 10) that the agencies could not justify having in inventory, but for which they paid $5 million in a single year.”
Toth said GSA is addressing the issue, in part by reducing its leasing rates by at least 2 percent in each of the last two years. But he also said federal agencies also have to take some responsibility for assessing how they will use vehicles they lease from GSA, and how many they need.
“Federal agencies themselves are empowered to analyze their mission needs and, accordingly, to make the final decision about how many vehicles they need to successfully fulfill the mission tasked to them by Congress,” he said. “In particular, GSA is not an enforcement agency and cannot require customers to turn in vehicles deemed underutilized.”
“Ultimately, authority for vehicle purchasing and operating decisions remain with each federal agency,” he added.
