The General Services Administration (GSA) is not fully complying with federal requirements for managing geospatial data under the Geospatial Data Act of 2018, according to an October 5 audit report by the GSA Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The OIG found recurring problems with data quality, inventory management and governance. MeriTalk reported on the audit, which found that GSA had not updated its geospatial data inventory for two years and lacked a required process for checking whether existing geospatial data could meet its needs before purchasing new data.

Data Quality Problems Persist

The audit examined GSA’s compliance with 13 responsibilities under the Geospatial Data Act of 2018.

Of 298,221 properties in the Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP) dataset, 78,624, or 26%, did not have distinct latitude and longitude coordinates. Another 2,258 buildings in the United States and its territories in the FRPP dataset were missing required latitude and longitude information, according to the OIG.

The problems also extended to GSA’s Inventory of Owned and Leased Properties (IOLP). According to the report, auditors found that 634 of 8,475 GSA-controlled properties in the IOLP buildings dataset lacked distinct coordinates. 

In addition, 20% of building records and 21% of lease records in the IOLP dataset contained outdated or incorrect congressional district and representative information.

Governance Gaps Complicate Data Management

Some of the findings were recurring. The current audit referenced a prior audit that found 22% of properties in the FRPP dataset shared coordinates with other properties. The latest audit also found that GSA had not updated its geospatial data inventory for two years. An inventory updated during the audit contained 528 additional geospatial data assets, a 22% increase from the prior geospatial data inventory.

For chief data officers (CDOs), the audit puts governance structure alongside data quality as a core issue. One of the OIG’s recommendations calls for GSA to define and document the roles and responsibilities of its GIS Center of Excellence, Data Evidence Governance Board and chief data officer.

The findings reinforce the need for strong data governance and ownership that establish clear accountability, maintain data inventories, correct errors and document how data is acquired.

The GSA audit shows how unclear ownership and weak data-management processes can allow quality problems to persist across datasets.