GAO Reviews Green Federal Initiatives
WASHINGTON — In an effort to determine the benefits of interagency cooperation, the U.S. Government Accountability Office conducted a review of current initiatives by federal agencies to foster green building in the nonfederal sector, and determine what is known about the results of the initiatives.
The agency identified 94 initiatives implemented by 11 agencies, with 18 initiatives by the Environmental Protection Agency and 17 by the Department of Energy.
As part of the review, GAO sent questionnaires to the 11 agencies implementing the initiatives identified, including the Department of Energy, Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency.
GAO did not report funding data because officials stated that agencies do not track many green building funds separately.
The report found the initiatives varied in terms of whether they were directly or indirectly fostered, and the recipients and types of assistance, among other factors.
“As GAO has reported, agencies and programs working collaboratively can often achieve more public value than when they work in isolation,” the report stated. “Agencies with green building initiatives for the nonfederal sector may be missing opportunities to, among other things, reach agreement on government wide goals and measures for assessing the overall progress of their green building efforts.”
The accountability office recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and the Department of Housing and Urban Development lead an effort to collaborate with other agencies on assessing the results of federal green building initiatives for the nonfederal sector.
As part of their recommendation, the agency reported that the Secretaries of Energy and Housing and Urban Development should work with the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in leading an effort with other agencies implementing green building initiatives to collaborate on identifying performance information like shared goals and common performance measures.
The collaboration should include, if necessary, additional legislative or executive authority, such as the ability to establish an interagency working group, according to the report.