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Strategic Objective
Improve the federal utilization of space
Strategic Objective
Overview
GSA is leading efforts to improve asset utilization, reduce agency space requirements, effectively manage real property, and pursue innovative proposals to leverage resources. We are a government-wide leader and expert in real estate solutions. We will assist and educate federal departments and agencies to develop plans that will assist agencies with consolidating their space to reduce their footprint.
GSA is encouraging agencies to reduce space to minimize costs. We use a variety of tools, strategies, and portfolio planning options to determine the optimal housing solutions for agencies. We are also targeting our large, more costly new construction, major repairs and alterations, and leasing prospectus projects. By working with customer agencies, GSA will identify opportunities to optimize federal real estate portfolios by reducing space, improving utilization, disposing of underutilized assets, and leveraging market opportunities to reduce the footprint and investment and operating costs.
GSA supports the Office of Management and Budget’s “Freeze the Footprint” policy – aimed at maintaining government-wide square footage for offices and warehouses – by collecting government-wide data and conducting analysis to assess the performance of each agency towards meeting the national goal.
Strategies:
- Use of the Customer Portfolio Plans process to develop and implement space saving opportunities with demonstrated value for both the client and GSA. These plans create value by proposing solutions which align Administration, Client Agency and GSA goals, and help optimize an agency’s existing portfolio while more effectively anticipating, capturing, and advising on future portfolio needs.
- Where it is advantageous to the federal government, work to house tenants in federally owned space, rather than leasing from the private sector.
- Minimize the amount of vacant space in the inventory and increase the utilization of existing space.
Key Performance Goals:
- Reduce the federal footprint
- Reduce vacant space in the government-owned and leased inventory
Contributing Programs:
- Building Operations
- Construction and Acquisition of Facilities
- Government-wide Policy
- Operating Expense
- Real Property Disposal
- Real Property Relocation
- Rental of Space
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Progress Update
GSA, in collaboration with OMB, has determined that performance toward this objective is making noteworthy progress. Since FY 2011, GSA has worked with customers to complete 15 real estate client portfolio plans (CPPs), consistently meeting annual targets of three new CPPs per year. In FY 2015, GSA completed plans for the Department of Agriculture, Department of Justice – Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Infrastructure and Technology. Through portfolio planning, GSA develops business cases for cost saving opportunities that consider investment costs, savings, and return on investment calculations to assist in agency prioritization. GSA received $70 million in FY 2015 to support agency consolidation activities within the GSA portfolio. In FY 2015, there were a total of ten CPP projects leveraging $39 million in consolidation funds with a targeted $14.2 million in annual rent savings, 400,000 usable square feet reduction, and $22 million in annual government leased cost avoidance.
GSA remains successful in keeping vacancy rates low in its owned and leased real property portfolio. Nationally, GSA’s vacancy rate in 2015 was 3.4%, far below the private sector average of 16.9%.
Agencies are looking to reduce their federal footprint as part of the “Reduce the Footprint” initiative. As a cross-agency priority goal, GSA will continue to work with its federal customers to optimize their use of space while meeting their changing needs.
GSA also provides Total Workplace solutions for customers that transform traditional official space into a collaborative work environment with a high utilization rate. This program allows agencies to amortize the cost of furniture and IT for their space by leasing the equipment from GSA and making payments towards ownership over the term as an additional payment with the rent.
The projects designed in the Total Workplace program during FY 2015 continue to reflect an improved reduction in rentable square feet. In FY 2015, GSA has projected a 24 percent improvement in utilization rate for replacement leases, exceeding the target rate of five percent. Currently, GSA is implementing projects for more than 36 agencies and departments. Furthermore, the Total Workplace Program worked closely with customers in FY 2015 to add seven utilization agreements, which establish a benchmark utilization rate for future projects and space actions, and brings the total number of such agreements to 13.
GSA is also making great strides in improving space utilization for its own operations. In FY 2013, GSA transformed its headquarters from conventional office space into a collaborative, flexible work environment. GSA is saving over $24 million a year by consolidating 3,300 of its own headquarters employees into one building that formerly housed 2,000 employees. GSA has set a limit of 136 useable square feet per person in workspaces on all new projects for housing GSA personnel, and identified opportunities throughout the country to reach that goal through the GSA Client Portfolio Plan. Smart occupancy, telework, and hoteling strategies serve as the means to meet utilization goals.
In FY 2015, through replacement lease projects, GSA had a 24 percent space reduction over the existing leases. Space was reduced by 500,000 square feet, a 10 percent reduction over the existing leases which far exceeded the Agency Priority Goal of reducing space by 5 percent for replacement leases. GSA is working to reduce the amount of square footage associated with replacement leases in non-government owned buildings by 5 percent, to support Reduce the Footprint goals.
Strategic Objective Next Steps. GSA will take the following actions in support of this strategic objective over the next two years:
- Work with agencies to develop policies and implement practices that reduce the federal building and warehouse space at FY 2012 levels
- Improve the utilization of GSA occupied space through various innovative workplace strategies
- Use government wide benchmarking information to support increased use of data and evidence to drive policy- and decision-making
- Work with OMB and Federal Real Property Council to identify best practices for meeting the Reduce the Footprint target, standardize reporting processes, and improve data quality and availability
- Implement a process within GSA to elevate projects internally when utilization rates exceed a client agency’s guidelines
- Leverage new and innovative workplace solutions to help agencies acquire the technology and workspace design to transform and consolidate workspaces
