Introduction: The Relationship Between Government Audits and Value Generation
Miniseries: Government Oversight of Built Infrastructure: Asset Management, Performance Audits, and Value Generation
This miniseries, titled “Government Oversight of Built Infrastructure: Asset Management, Performance Audits, and Value Generation,” explores the role of government oversight, both external and internal, and the value generated through disciplined asset management and performance audits. It includes an introduction, plus three articles: (1) Government Oversight Roles and Value; (2) Performance Audits of Built Infrastructure using a management systems approach; and (3) Internal Performance Audits of Built Infrastructure, a leadership playbook on how to drive performance through a robust internal audit program.
March 18, 2026[1]
This article introduces a miniseries that will illuminate the role and value of independent government oversight and external and internal performance audits. It describes the three articles on the audit process and how audits serve an essential value generating role for organizational success. While the audit functions described can apply generally to most agencies or organizations on most issue areas, this series focuses on performance audits of asset management for built infrastructure.
The first article provides an overview of oversight and audit agencies and their role at federal, state, and local levels of government. It includes the roles of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and inspectors general (IGs) at the federal, state, and local levels of government, including examples of the range of missions of state and local IGs. Focusing on performance audits, this article describes the audit process and development of findings and recommendations. It also discusses follow-up on recommendations with audited agencies, ways audit results can be measured in terms of financial and nonfinancial benefits, and insights to risks and opportunities for audited agencies or issue areas that cut across agencies. This article will be released March 25, 2026.
The second article discusses federal government performance audits of built infrastructure, in particular, the longstanding problem of deferred maintenance, and related oversight at each level of government. It provides information on estimates of deferred maintenance and describes illustrative audit examples from federal agencies and inspectors general. At the state and local level, a search of IG websites found one state and two local IG audits of deferred maintenance, which are described in this article. The article also summarizes recurrent audit findings on weaknesses in managing deferred maintenance and the criteria used to identify them. This recurrence highlights the importance of identifying root cause when condition does not meet criteria in the elements of a finding, as described in the first article. To identify root cause and make recommendations for complex issues like deferred maintenance, the article recommends taking a management system approach to asset management, based on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 55000 series of standards.[4] This approach is further explained in the third article. This article will be released April 1, 2026.
The third article serves as a leadership playbook, explaining how internal performance audits of built infrastructure deliver and accelerate value generation. It provides a foundation for systematic audits, describes a framework for robust decision-making integration, and outlines the benefits of a rigorous, integrated internal performance audit program. Audit mechanics involve analysis that verifies, validates, and considers the impact of built infrastructure management activities on organizational performance in conformance with ISO 55001 AMS standard requirements. This approach generates value by providing leaders a clear pathway to advance organizational performance and mission achievement. This article will be released April 8, 2026.
[1] First published on the AMP Newsletter,
[2] https://www.linkedin.com/in/amelia-shachoy-mpa-pmp-4644aa5/
[3] https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-dempsey-assetmanagementpartnership/
[4] ISO, ISO 55000 Asset Management—Overview and Principles Terminology (first published: Switzerland: 2014).
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