Recommendations

The background, examples of suboptimal outcomes, attempts to work around the existing structure at the margins, and the potential for a better process, all outlined in this report, led the Advisory Group to conclude that a change in administration and Congress presents an opportunity to shift course. A new administration should test alternatives, study reform, and engage in a deeper policy discussion. Therefore, the Advisory Group recommends four actions:

  Test an alternative approach to scoring real property transactions by revisiting the existing regime of scoring operating and capital leases, capital investments, and purchases to eliminate exceptions that allow the budgeted costs of some investments to be spread over multiple fiscal years, while scoring others in the first year.

  Evaluate investments on a life-cycle cost basis and provide upfront funding for the net present value of long-term costs for all investments.

  Develop and evaluate a model that calculates the long-term cost of deferred maintenance of federally owned real estate, effectively scoring the "cost of doing nothing."

  Convene a new Commission on Budget Concepts to review the performance of the current model and develop new paradigms for assessing the cost and value of capital investment.