Agreements increased from 45 to 316
Military installations can use intergovernmental support agreements with state, local and tribal governments for utilities, road maintenance and other services. GAO found the number rose from 45 in 2018 to 316 in 2025.
That is an increase of 271 agreements, or 602%. The 2025 total is just over seven times the 2018 count.
| Measure | 2018 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agreements | 45 | 316 | +271 / +602% |
| Selected agreements reviewed | — | 21 | Not nationally representative |
| Selected public partners using contractors | — | 9 of 21 | 42.9% of sample |
Cost estimates were not consistently verified
GAO said selected cost estimates did not fully reflect best practices, and some reviewed agreements lacked estimates or cost-benefit analyses. Guidance also did not specifically cover multi-service or multi-installation agreements.
The Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force lacked procedures to verify installation estimates against actual results. That makes claimed savings difficult to validate as the program expands.
Contractor wages varied in a small sample
Nine of 21 reviewed public partners used private contractors for some or all work. In a five-position comparison, public-partner wages ranged from 19% below to 50% above comparable federal service-contract minimums.
Those five positions are nongeneralizable, and the federal Service Contract Act does not apply to the agreements. The comparison identifies a policy boundary, not a wage-law violation.
Method, response and limitation
The newsroom recomputed growth and sample shares from GAO’s data. GAO reviewed 21 agreements at five installations and 10 related cost-benefit analyses, so the detailed defects cannot be projected to all 316 agreements.
GAO issued five recommendations. The services generally agreed and described planned guidance or annual checks; all were listed as open on the report page.