Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Restrictions and ...

BLM Has Not Established
Goals or an Implementation
Strategy for FLTFA Sales
BLM has established annual goals for the disposal of land through sales or
other means. 18 For example, BLM’s fiscal year 2008 budget justification
contained a performance target to dispose of 11,500 acres and 30,000 acres
of land in fiscal years 2007 and 2008, respectively. However, BLM has not
established similar goals for FLTFA sales. For example, BLM’s fiscal year
2007 annual work plan for the lands and realty function—which guides the
activities to be completed in a given year—does not contain specific goals
for FLTFA. Rather, it states that lands and realty staff should continue to
hold land sales under FLTFA, especially in Nevada.
BLM did provide an estimate in its fiscal year 2008 budget justification for
FLTFA revenue—$12 million in fiscal year 2007 and $50 million in 2008.
However, BLM fell short of its estimate for fiscal year 2007; it reported
generating only $0.7 million from sales and exchanges. Moreover, when we
asked BLM headquarters staff for the basis of the fiscal year 2007 and 2008
revenue estimates, they said the estimates were based on professional
judgment and that they had no supporting information. 19
Our interviews with state and field office staff confirmed that there are
few goals for conducting FLTFA sales. According to 27 of the 28 state and
field office officials we spoke with, BLM headquarters had not provided
any goals; one state office said headquarters had emphasized getting their
land disposal program up and running in their office. According to 18 of
these 28 officials, their state and field office management had set no
targets or goals for FLTFA land sales. Of the 10 that did mention such
goals, 8 described the goal as a plan to sell specific parcels of land.
According to headquarters officials, BLM has tried to encourage FLTFA
sales but is not pressuring field offices to conduct them, and there is no
18 In 2000, BLM estimated that there were more than 3.3 million acres potentially available
for disposal. (BLM, “Questions and Answers: Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act,
Title II, of The Valles Caldera Preservation Act (Baca Ranch, NM)” (April 4, 2003,
[http://www.blm.gov/nhp/news/releases/pages/2000/valles_QsAs.htm] accessed on
February 28, 2007). However, the BLM FLTFA program lead said that only a small
percentage of the land designated for disposal are good candidates for sale because the
projected revenue from the sale exceeds the cost to conduct the sale.
19 The BLM FLTFA program lead reported more recently that a revised estimate of future
sales revenue had been prepared for FY 2008 and beyond. The estimate projects an average
of $7.5 million in annual sales revenue or a total of $82.5 million in revenue from FY 2008
through FY 2018, with the assumptions that the program will be extended, that revised
program authority adds to the inventory of land available for sale and that the program is
made a priority by BLM state directors.
Page 23 GAO-08-196 Federal Land Management