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Following the Federal Dollar… geographically

Posted on September 10, 2019

When you think of the federal government, Washington, D.C. likely comes to mind. But the truth is that federal agencies and programs actually operate throughout the nation—from disaster recovery efforts to naval shipyards and federal data centers.

What you might not know, is that we at GAO are also spread across the country. In today’s WatchBlog, we offer a glimpse into our field offices from coast to coast.

From sea to shining sea

It’s valuable to have staff covering the U.S. to gather firsthand information and insight into different regions for our engagements. Setting up shop in different cities also allows us to recruit talented people who might not want or be able to relocate to Washington, D.C.

While 71% of our over 3,000 employees are based in our D.C. headquarters, the rest work in our 11 field offices across the country. In addition, GAO staff in all of our locations have telework opportunities.

 

 

Analyst staff in field offices are aligned with our mission teams, and work with our headquarters and other field office staff on our engagements. Operations staff also work in our field offices to help support our mission.

Field offices vary in size—both in the number of staff and number of mission teams they house. For example, our Atlanta office has staff from 8 of our mission teams, while our Dayton office only has staff from our Contracting and National Security Acquisitions team.

GAO’s Atlanta (left) and Dayton (right) field offices

 

Staying connected

GAO is committed to inclusion and valuing all of our staff. Since our staff work with colleagues in other areas of the country every day, it’s important that everyone have means for staying connected and that remote staff feel in touch with the goings-on in our headquarters.

We rely heavily on technology—such as video conferencing and screen-sharing software—to bring teams together virtually. We also offer opportunities for field staff to visit headquarters for training and important events, such as Congressional briefings.

To foster a sense of community, field offices also have social committees that coordinate events, like knowledge-sharing brown bags, potlucks, and after-hours volunteer activities.

Seattle field office cookie exchange event and Los Angeles field office charity drive

Learn more about what we do here.