The General Services Administration (GSA) is not fully complying with the Geospatial Data Act (GDA) of 2018, as persistent data-quality and management problems continue to undermine the agency’s handling of federal geospatial information, according to an Oct. 5 inspector general report.
The GDA is intended to expand access to and use of geospatial data, which is information linked to a specific geographic location, such as latitude and longitude coordinates.
The GSA Office of Inspector General (OIG) found the agency is falling short of requirements to maintain geospatial data, keep an updated geospatial data strategy and inventory, and search existing sources before spending money to acquire new geospatial data. The congressionally required audit examined GSA’s compliance with 13 responsibilities under the law.
“These deficiencies, some of which are recurring, demonstrate that GSA is not managing its GDA responsibilities effectively,” the OIG said.
Among the most significant data-quality findings, auditors found that 78,624 – or 26% – of the 298,221 properties with latitude and longitude coordinates in the Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP) dataset lacked distinct coordinates. The watchdog also found 2,258 buildings in the United States and its territories were missing required latitude and longitude coordinates.
Problems also affected GSA’s Inventory of Owned and Leased Properties (IOLP). Auditors found 634 of 8,475 GSA-controlled properties in the buildings dataset lacked distinct latitude and longitude coordinates, while 20% of building records and 21% of lease records contained outdated or incorrect congressional representative information.
The OIG said several issues repeat findings from earlier audits. In 2024, for example, auditors found 22% of properties in the FRPP dataset shared coordinates with other properties.
The latest audit also found GSA has not maintained its geospatial data inventory for two years; an inventory updated during the audit contained 528 more data assets, a 22% increase over the 2024 inventory.
“The repeated nature of these findings is indicative of ineffective management oversight,” the OIG said.
Auditors also found GSA has not implemented a required process for checking whether existing federal, state, local, or private geospatial data can meet agency needs before new data is purchased.
The official assigned to that function was eliminated during 2025 workforce reductions, which also cut GSA’s Geographic Information Systems Center of Excellence from five employees to one and its Spatial Data Management program from more than 35 employees to 11.
The OIG issued five recommendations to GSA’s chief information officer (CIO), including improving property-coordinate accuracy, establishing processes to correct congressional district data, updating the agency’s geospatial strategy and operating procedures, documenting searches for existing data before purchases, and clarifying oversight responsibilities among GSA’s GIS Center of Excellence, Data Evidence Governance Board, and chief data officer. GSA’s CIO agreed with the recommendations.