Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Restrictions and ...

BLM Faces Several
Challenges to Future
Sales under FLTFA
Table 2: Number of Sales and Revenue Raised by Competitive, Modified
Competitive, and Direct Sales under FLTFA, as of May 31, 2007
Dollars in millions
Number of
Revenue Number of field
Method
sales
collected offices reporting
Competitive 149 $91.4 12
Modified competitive 33 1.0 6
Direct 83 3.2 33
Total 265 $95.7
a
Source: GAO analysis of BLM’s Division of Business Services data verified by BLM state offices.
Note: Revenue column does not add due to rounding.
a No total reported because each field office may use more than one method of sale.
Using the data provided by BLM state offices on completed FLTFA sales as
of May 31, 2007, we determined that the actual sales prices of the parcels
sold exceeded the appraised fair market value of those parcels by 52
percent.
BLM state and field office officials most frequently cited the availability of
knowledgeable realty staff to conduct the sales as a challenge to raising
revenue from FLTFA sales. These staff may not be available because they
are working on activities that BLM has identified as a higher priority, such
as reviewing and approving energy rights-of-way. We identified two
additional issues hampering land sales activity under FLTFA. First, while
BLM has identified land for sale in its land use plans, it has not made the
sale of this land a priority during the first 7 years of the program.
Furthermore, BLM has not set goals for FLTFA sales. Goals are an
effective management tool for measuring and achieving results. Some BLM
state offices reported that they have planned FLTFA sales through 2010,
but BLM has no overall implementation strategy to generate funds to
purchase inholdings, as mandated by FLTFA. Since BLM has not laid out a
clear roadmap for FLTFA and did not make land sales a priority, it is
difficult to determine if BLM took full advantage of the opportunities for
generating revenue under the act. Second, BLM has revised some of its
land use plans since 2000 and identified additional land for disposal.
However, revenue from these potential sales is not eligible for the FLTFA
account because the act only applies to land that was identified for
disposal in a land use plan on or before the date of the act.
Page 18 GAO-08-196 Federal Land Management