Kennedy Center: Information on Facility Management Capability

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' efforts to define and implement: (1) facility management positions; (2) a facility management system; and (3) facility project and financial reports. GAO noted that: (1) the Center managers, including the Board of Trustees, determined that the Center's facility management program would be operated by a few managers supported by a small in-house staff and contractor technical staff; (2) currently, six facility-related managerial positions have been established and, according to Center officials, they do not anticipate a need for additional positions in the future; (3) the six managerial positions include the Vice President for Facilities; the Directors of Contracting, Facilities, Security, and Auxiliary Services; and the Project Executive; (4) all but the Vice President for Facilities and the Director of Auxiliary Services positions were established in 1994 and 1995; (5) in August and September 1996, the Center created the Director of Auxiliary Services and Vice President for Facilities positions, respectively; (6) with the exception of the Vice President for Facilities, the managers in these positions use contractors to either support operations that they are responsible for, such as parking, or provide management support; (7) in the latter instance, the Project Executive--in so far as major construction projects are underway--uses contracted technical management expertise, particularly for project planning, design, construction, and construction management; (8) several committees have been established to assist in coordinating facility operations with performing arts schedules and to provide a forum for decisionmaking; (9) these committees bring together managers and staff from throughout the Center; (10) the committees consider a range of facility issues and problems, varying from those associated with the day-to-day execution of construction contracts to resolving policy level issues such as the approval of the appropriated funds budget; (11) to provide facility operating information to key managers, the Center has purchased and is implementing a computer-integrated facility management (CIFM) system; (12) to date, the Center is progressing with implementation of four module: Property Portfolio, Asset Manager, Maintenance Manager, and Preventative Maintenance; (13) GAO did not evaluate the usefulness of the system or the output that managers obtain because of the recent and ongoing implementation of the system; (14) in addition to the CIFM system, the Center staff developed 11 reports for use in managing appropriated funds; and (15) these reports are to provide managers with information for tracking items such as appropriated funds usage, contractor progress on work, and contract payment approvals.