a/Purchase data is based on GSA shopping plate statistics. New shopping plates were issued at varying times during 1978. Since 1979 fiscal year statistics began in October 1978, some purchases may be understated if the activity did not receive the shopping plates before October 1978.

b/A Federal contractor operating Air Force supply operations in Los Angeles, California.

In several cases, sales to single Federal customers which operated their own stores and stockrooms represented a large portion of several GSA stores' sales. In fact, some GSA stores might not be able to exist if it were not for a few large customers. The following table illustrates two GSA stores and their corresponding sales to single Federal activities operating their own stores during the fiscal year 1979.

During fiscal year 1979, the Ft. Stewart self-service center purchased $207,047 of supplies from the Savannah GSA store. The following are examples of purchases made at the Savannah GSA store.

--Total purchase was $16,090, including $2,938 for
paper bags; $2,769 for plastic bags; $1,893 for

VAN-I-SOL spray: $1,152 for Lysol spray; and $7,338 for various other line items.

--Total purchase was $9,890, including $2,707 for paper bags; $2,700 for bond paper; $1,604 for plastic bags; $648 for paper towels; and $2,231 for various other line items.

Ft. Stewart personnel explained the supplies are purchased from the Savannah GSA store using an Army truck for the 90-mile round trip. The supplies are then stocked at the Ft. Stewart self-service center awaiting resale. The prime customers for the bags are the local commissaries. Items are also shipped to reserve units in Florida. Ft. Stewart personnel explained the GSA store is used as a backup supply source because of inconsistent deliveries from the GSA depot.

Fort Huachuca, Arizona

During 1977 GSA internal auditors performed a review of the Tucson, Arizona, GSA store and found that 52 percent of the store's sales were to the Ft. Huachuca self-service store 80 miles away.

Ft. Huachuca personnel told the internal auditors that personnel drove to Tucson by truck twice a week to shop at the GSA store. They explained that their purchases from the GSA store were uneconomical but their purchases from the store would soon be eliminated.

During fiscal year 1979, Ft. Huachuca purchased $141,398 worth of supplies averaging over $2,100 per purchase. Ft. Huachuca personnel explained the purchases were made for their self-service store.

Supplies are reshipped

after purchase from

the GSA store

We found several instances in which Federal activities operating stores and stockrooms purchased supplies from a GSA store and then shipped them to field activities, some of which were in the same city or building as another GSA store.

An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) activity in Dallas, Texas, operates a stockroom one block from a GSA store. IRS personnel purchase supplies from the GSA store and stock the items in their stockroom. Supplies are shipped from the IRS stockroom to 21 field activities in Texas and New Mexico. Personnel explained that at times, supplies are purchased from the Dallas GSA store and then shipped to the IRS district office in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We found that the IRS district office in Albuquerque is located in the same building as a GSA store. Also, the IRS Albuquerque district office has eight GSA shopping plates of its own, with $9,488 in purchases during fiscal year 1979.

DOL's regional administrative office in Atlanta, Georgia, operates a stockroom and ships supplies to various field activities throughout the Southeastern United States. Purchases of $40,974 were made from the GSA store during fiscal year 1979.

During an interview with a DOL activity in Miami, Florida, DOL personnel said that the field activity had been directed by the DOL Atlanta office not to purchase anything from the GSA store in Miami if it was available from the DOL

Atlanta stockroom.

We found that the DOL field activity had not used its GSA shopping plate during fiscal year 1979.

CUSTOMERS DRIVE LONG

DISTANCES TO SHOP AT GSA STORES

We found numerous instances in which GSA store customers travel many miles to obtain supplies. For example:

--An Army activity in Birmingham, Alabama, travels either 320 miles round trip to Atlanta or 500 miles round trip to Memphis to shop at a GSA store. The activity preferred the Memphis store because they considered it better stocked. The activity purchases approximately $2,000 of supplies per trip and usually sends two or three people who stay overnight on per diem before returning to Birmingham.

--The Office of Surface Mining personnel in Knoxville,
Tennessee, travel 400 miles round trip to Atlanta four
times a year and purchase about $4,500 of supplies
each time.

--Armed Forces Entrance and Examining Station personnel
in Des Moines, Iowa, travel 220 miles, one way, to shop
at the Kansas City GSA store. The personnel then con-
tinue an additional 25 miles to the Army's Fort

Leavenworth store to purchase the items not available
at the GSA store before returning to Des Moines.

We do not believe traveling long distances to GSA stores is necessary or acceptable. In each of the above metropolitan areas, Federal activities operate stores or stockrooms. Proper cross-servicing of Federal activities could eliminate these travel costs. Also, wholesale purchases from the GSA stores could be avoided.

CHAPTER 6

OTHER AGENCIES' STORES

AND STOCKROOMS

"Each department, and even bureaus within a depart-
ment, organize, establish, and operate storehouses,
sometimes on a national basis, without reference
to similar installations of other agencies in a
particular region ***. The same items are car-
ried in stock in quantities by storehouses of two
or more departments or bureaus in the same geo-
graphical area, the same city, and even in the
same building. The waste through such duplication
is not only indefensible; it is inexcusable."

--The First Hoover Commission Report, 1949.

Federal agencies are operating their own self-service stores and stockrooms in every metropolitan area we visited. These agency stores and stockrooms were located

--in the same building as GSA stores,

--in the same building as another agency's store or
stockroom, and

--many miles from the nearest GSA store.

We were unable to determine the extent of the agency stores and stockrooms in operation. However, we did identify 77 agency-operated stores and stockrooms during our interviews with GSA store customers in the Atlanta, Kansas City, Forth Worth, and National Capital GSA regional areas. The agency stores and stockrooms varied in size from approximately 100 square feet to several thousand square feet. Also, some activities were staffed on a part-time basis while others had a full staff of permanent personnel.

We reviewed the operations of five Federal activities' stores and stockrooms in the Washington, D.C., area and found several weaknesses.

EXTENT OF OTHER

AGENCY PROGRAMS

Generally, agencies we contacted did not maintain centralized records on their stores and stockrooms. Incomplete information obtained from the Department of Defense, VA, and