By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
In an era when remote work has become increasingly prevalent, federal agencies are grappling with the challenge of efficiently managing their office space. Even before the pandemic, the federal government faced difficulties identifying and relinquishing unneeded office space, incurring avoidable financial and environmental costs. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has placed federal property management on the High-Risk List since 2003 due to this issue.
The GAO’s recent findings reveal that the problem persists, with 17 federal agencies operating their headquarters buildings at a mere 25% capacity or less during the first three months of 2023. The rise of telework further complicates office space utilization, necessitating the need for new benchmarks to accurately assess building usage.
Federal agencies are still attempting to determine the precise amount of office space required to fulfill their missions, resulting in the retention of excessive and underutilized space. The report noted this as a primary reason for federal real property management’s persistent inclusion on GAO’s High-Risk List for two decades.
Among the 24 federal agencies in the Federal Real Property Council, 17 utilized an estimated average of 25% or less of their headquarters building’s capacity for one week in January, February, and March of 2023. Agencies at the upper end of this spectrum managed an estimated 40 to 49% of their headquarters’ capacity on average during these weeks.
Agency officials identified several obstacles to increased utilization, including the need for consistent benchmarks for measuring utilization and a strategy that takes increased telework into account. In 2021, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) advised agencies to consider using evidence of building utilization to support space planning. It permitted each agency to establish its utilization metrics and benchmarks.
However, as of GAO’s investigation, these benchmarks had not been developed to account for the increasing prevalence of telework. Most agency officials at a Federal Real Property Council meeting in July 2023 concurred that the OMB and the Council were best positioned to create measures and benchmarks. According to the GAO report, discrepancies in measures, calculations, and benchmarks across agencies contribute to variations in capacity and utilization metrics, highlighting the need for standardized approaches.
The GAO recommends that the Office of Management and Budget, as the Chair of the Federal Real Property Council, take the lead in developing and implementing benchmarks for measuring building utilization that accommodate higher levels of telework. The OMB has already agreed with this recommendation, the GAO reported.
The federal government’s real property portfolio encompasses over 460 million square feet of office space, incurring annual operational and maintenance costs of billions of dollars. The GAO concluded that the pandemic has substantially transformed work dynamics, providing a unique opportunity for the federal government to reevaluate its office space needs and explore cost reductions by releasing underutilized space.
“This moment presents a unique opportunity to reconsider the federal government’s real property portfolio,” David Marroni Acting Director, Physical Infrastructure Team, determined. “The pandemic has lowered the utilization of headquarters office space and increased the amount of underutilized federal office space. While all agencies have resumed in-person operations, it is clear that the federal workplace has evolved as agencies have embraced telework.”
Marroni said that OMB has directed agencies to use utilization data to determine their space needs but did not say how, and agencies have not reached consensus on new benchmarks on their own. Currently, agencies use a variety of metrics, benchmarks, and calculations in their space planning, which can contribute to differences in capacity and utilization even for the same building square footage.
Marroni said a standard method to measure utilization and benchmarks that account for higher levels of telework could help the federal government more consistently identify underutilized space within and across agencies.
He added that having this information could support better aligning the federal real property portfolio with future needs and reducing costs by releasing unneeded space.
“Without new benchmarks that account for higher levels of telework, agencies may continue to hold on to more office space than they need, with significant costs for agencies, the environment, and local communities,” Marroni stated. “The Director of OMB should ensure that the Deputy Director of OMB, as Chair of the Federal Real Property Council, leads the development and use of benchmarks for measuring building utilization that account for greater levels of telework.”
