U.S. Department of Agriculture: State Office Collocation Page: 4 of 15
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B-285644
USDA's procedures for making collocation decisions did not provide guidance on
how headquarters or state officials should weigh the relative importance of individual
criteria in reaching their decisions. The procedures that USDA used for making
collocation decisions consisted primarily of March 1998 guidance to state agency
officials directing them to respond to the 10 criteria. The guidance also provided a
format for reporting selected cost items, such as office moving expenses and
relocation costs. However, the guidance provided no directions on which of the
criteria were most important and should be weighed more heavily than others. For
example, USDA provided no elaboration concerning the relative importance of
mission-related criteria to the one-time relocation cost criteria. Furthermore, none of
the criteria provided guidance on the location characteristics that would help ensure
that the selected site was best suited for carrying out the mission of a collocated state
office (for example, a location in the state capital or a location near a land grant
university). As a result, USDA state officials could not reach consensus on sites for a
collocated state office for seven of the eight states involving the relocation of offices
more than 50 miles.
USDA's Use of Criteria Is Unclear
USDA's procedures for making collocation decisions did not require that USDA state
or headquarters officials document the extent to which each of the individual criteria
influenced their decisions. As a result, it is difficult to determine exactly how each of
the criteria was used during the decision-making process.
In making final collocation decisions, USDA headquarters officials did not document
the extent to which each of the individual 10 criteria influenced USDA's final
decision. However, on the basis of our review of documents explaining the final
decisions, it appears USDA generally focused its decision on one of the criteria-the
one-time cost of the collocation. Concerning Texas, for example, USDA's
explanation noted that Temple was the lowest cost alternative and stated, "relocating
the least number of employees and families makes Temple the logical alternative for
a collocated state office." USDA's estimates showed the cost to collocate the office
in Temple was about one-half the cost of the other site under consideration.
In all but one of the eight states involving relocations of more than 50 miles, USDA
selected the location that its estimates showed as the lowest cost alternative. In
Kansas, however, USDA selected a collocation site primarily because it was located
centrally between two alternative sites, even though it was not the lowest cost
alternative. USDA's explanation stated that the RD, FSA, and NRCS national agency
heads believed that this location best met program performance needs. Furthermore,
USDA noted relocation costs for the chosen collocation site may possibly be lower
than estimated if employees from the other sites commute rather than relocate.
USDA Conducted a Limited Review of Data Submitted by State Offices and
Did Not Include All Relevant Relocation Costs
USDA's March 1998 guidance required its non-collocated state offices to provide, by
June 1998, a cost analysis that included the costs for the existing separate stateGAO/RCED-00-208R State Office Collocation
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United States. General Accounting Office. U.S. Department of Agriculture: State Office Collocation, text, June 30, 2000; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc300400/m1/4/: accessed April 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.