GSA faces recurrent issues with geospatial data handling, watchdog finds
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The agency’s chief information officer agreed with all five recommendations made by the watchdog.
The General Services Administration is still not meeting the Geospatial Data Act of 2018’s requirement to maintain geospatial data, an Office of Inspector General report published Monday found. Previous 2024 and 2022 OIG audits also found that GSA was not fully compliant with the federal law.
GSA has two publicly available geospatial datasets — the Inventory of Owned and Leased Properties Dataset and the Federal Real Property Profile Dataset — that contain inaccurate or missing latitude and longitude coordinates, the OIG found.
The watchdog noted that about 78,624 — or 26% — of properties in the FRPP dataset with coordinates lacked distinct ones and “numerous properties” in that dataset contained erroneous coordinates. The finding echoes a June 2026 Government Accountability Office report that determined about 20% of buildings in the FRPP had coordinates that did not match their reported zip codes.
The OIG found that 634, or about 7%, of the GSA-controlled properties listed in the IOLP-buildings dataset lacked distinct coordinates. Approximately 20% of the IOLP-buildings dataset’s real property assets contained outdated and incorrect congressional representative data.
“GSA should identify cost-effective measures to improve the accuracy and usefulness of the latitude and longitude coordinates in the IOLP and FRPP datasets based on each property’s physical location,” the OIG wrote.
GSA did not maintain its geospatial data inventory for two years until it responded to OIG’s audit, according to the report. The updated inventory showed a roughly 22% increase in geospatial data assets compared to the 2024 inventory.
The OIG found that the agency did not maintain an updated inventory because it does not have a documented process listed in materials like the GEOSPATIAL DATA Standard Operating Procedure — or SOP — and Standards Guide.
“GSA should update its geospatial data SOP to establish a process for maintaining its geospatial data inventory, including defining roles and responsibilities,” the office wrote.
While the Geospatial Data Act requires agencies to search for existing geospatial data before procuring new data, the OIG found that GSA continues to not comply with that requirement.
Following the 2024 audit, GSA agreed to establish a search process, but the agency has not yet implemented it. GSA staff said in April that they were “evaluating resources to determine a timeline for updating the process,” the OIG wrote.
The report said that GSA’s delegation of Geospatial Data Act responsibilities is not effective, leading to some of the recurrent issues. GSA staffing cuts since 2025 have exacerbated those problems, the report added.
GSA did not respond to a request for comment on the OIG report by the time of publication.
GSA Chief Information Officer David Shive did sign a letter agreeing with all five of the OIG’s recommendations for improving geospatial data. The letter says GSA is “working on a plan to address” the recommendations.
Shive agreed to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of feasible corrective action plans for geospatial data accuracy, create a process for correcting IOLP congressional representative name data and establish protocols for GSA-wide compliance with Geospatial Data Act rules.
Shive also agreed to align the GSA’s geospatial strategy plan with a federal 2025-2035 strategic plan and update GSA’s GEOSPATIAL DATA SOP and Standards Guide.