Document Production Status Update: OPM, FBI, and GSA

June 27, 2019

STATEMENT OF ROBERT BORDEN

CHIEF OF STAFF

U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS

COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 27, 2019

 

Chairman Connolly, Ranking Member Meadows, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today on the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) response to two document requests that have been made by the Committee.

For those who may not be familiar with GSA, GSA’s mission is to deliver value and savings in real estate, acquisition, technology, and other mission-support services across government. In accomplishing this mission, GSA manages 368 million square feet of real estate and is responsible for $55 billion in acquisitions annually. In Fiscal Year 2018 alone, GSA helped save the taxpayer more than $6 billion.

My name is Robert Borden and I joined GSA as its Chief of Staff in June of 2018. Prior to taking my current position, I spent more than 20 years working in the House of Representatives, including nearly a decade working on this very Committee under three different chairmen. I’ve conducted oversight activities during four different administrations at two permanent committees and at two select investigative committees.

While working for the House Majority Leader, my primary responsibility was increasing the effectiveness of House oversight efforts. Given my background, no one has a greater respect than I do for the importance of the legislative branch’s oversight function or this Committee’s role as the principal investigative committee of the House. Moreover, GSA’s Administrator, Emily Murphy, a former congressional staffer, shares my respect for the legislative branch’s oversight role and believes there is great value in being as transparent as we can about our actions with respect to Congress.

To that end, under Administrator Murphy we have made it a priority to respond to Congress in a way that is consistent with longstanding, legitimate executive branch interests and the significant resource constraints we face as a relatively small agency.

As such, in the last seven months alone, GSA has provided more than 34,000 pages of materials to Congress in response to requests made by various committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives. With specific respect to the two Oversight and Reform Committee requests that are the subject of GSA’s appearance here today, GSA has provided the Committee more than 17,000 pages of documents regarding the revised FBI Headquarters plan and nearly 16,000 pages of documents regarding the Old Post Office out lease.

GSA is continuing to process and produce documents to the Committee. Some of the documents requested by the Committee do implicate core executive branch confidentiality interests; however, GSA staff has been and continues to be willing to discuss possible accommodations with the Committee. Additionally, GSA staff has regularly offered to discuss with the Committee what documents should be prioritized in GSA’s productions and, at the request of Committee staff, have broadened the scope of searches and responsive material to ensure our productions cover the material requested by the Committee.

Finally, I hope today’s hearing will illustrate GSA’s strong and ongoing commitment to working with the Committee in its oversight role.

With that, I thank you for your time and look forward to any questions you may have.