US Auditors Find Missing Records in All 11 Federal Building Contracts Sampled

A U.S. federal watchdog found incomplete electronic records in every one of 11 federal building contracts it examined, with agency staff adding 956 documents after auditors asked for them, according to a report released on November 6, 2026. The findings concern the General Services Administration's Public Buildings Service (PBS), which manages federal real estate and related contracting.

The GSA Office of Inspector General selected one closed contract from each of the service's 11 former regions. Together, those contracts were worth approximately $31.07 million. The files initially contained 763 documents; agency personnel subsequently uploaded another 956 in response to the audit inquiries. The report says some required documents could not be located even after that search. The sample was deliberately selected, not random, and the watchdog explicitly says its results cannot be projected to all PBS contracts.

One of the most pronounced gaps involved a roughly $1.29 million contract for access-control equipment in Ohio. Auditors found only 21 documents initially in the official electronic repository and another 528 were added after inquiries. The audit said a referenced warranty was absent and required performance and payment bonds had not been requested, leaving the government exposed to potential contractual risk. These are documented control deficiencies; the report does not establish that $1.29 million was lost or that a contractor committed fraud.

The audit also identified weaknesses in handling controlled unclassified information, a federal designation for sensitive material that is not classified. It found 84 documents that should have carried required markings but did not. In the sampled files, 40 of 41 independent government cost estimates lacked proper markings. The inspector general described increased risk of mishandling or unauthorized disclosure, not proof that those records had actually been leaked.

Federal Acquisition Regulation 4.802 requires files that document contract awards, administration and payment responsibilities to be maintained for effective oversight and accessible to responsible officials. GSA's own published guidance identifies its Electronic Acquisition System Integration, or EASi, as an official electronic contract-file system and prescribes document naming and storage practices. The watchdog found that personnel sometimes preferred network drives or Google Drive, leaving required documents outside EASi.

The report places the shortcomings against a wider agency portfolio: PBS had 8,910 active contracts worth more than $14.6 billion as of March 2026. That figure describes the broader active-contract portfolio, not the value of missing documentation, questioned expenditure, or losses established by this audit.

The inspector general recommended stronger file checks, timely uploading, standardized oversight before closeout, improved handling of contracting officers' representative records, clearer rules for sensitive information and an assessment of EASi usability. The acting PBS commissioner agreed with the recommendations in a written response included in the report.

The next accountability test is implementation: whether the agency can show that its official contract files have been completed, that outstanding documentation can be recovered, and that sensitive acquisition records are marked correctly. The published audit does not yet demonstrate those corrective actions have been carried out.

Sources: GSA Office of Inspector General, report A250037/P/2/R27001, November 6, 2026; Federal Acquisition Regulation 4.802; GSA's published PBS electronic file guidance.