WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley is asking the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to explain $24.2 million in excessive costs for the consolidation and relocation of Fannie Mae’s offices in the Dallas metro area. The costs were the subject of a management alert from the agency’s internal watchdog.
“It is inexcusable that neither Fannie Mae nor FHFA have conducted an appropriate review to determine the reasonableness of the lease or the budgeted build-out costs for this project,” Grassley wrote to agency director Melvin Watt. “As an agency charged with oversight of the mortgage market, Fannie Mae has an even greater responsibility to effectively manage its own real estate project(s) and to do so in a manner that is not wasteful of taxpayer dollars.”
“Choosing an area of Dallas known as the ‘platinum corridor’ makes me wonder who’s minding the store,” Grassley said.
Grassley asked a series of questions about the reasons for the excessive costs, citing a management alert from the FHFA Office of the Inspector General. The management alert said the consolidation and relocation of Fannie Mae’s office in Plano, Texas, raise similar problems with the build-out of its Washington, D.C., headquarters.
“The same significant financial and reputational risks that we identified in connection with the budgeted costs associated with Fannie Mae’s relocation of its D.C. headquarters apply with equal force to its relocation of area offices to Granite Park VII in Plano,” the management alert says.
Grassley asked a series of questions seeking details and documentation of the Dallas project. His letter is available here. He asked for a response by Feb. 7.
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