More than six years after ground was broken—and after a nearly two-year construction stoppage—the federal government officially opened the new NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction at the University of Maryland’s M Square Research and…
Author: Kurt Stout
Constitution Center Update
GSA now has a plan to lease all of the remaining 358,000 square feet of space at Constitution Center and distribute it among the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National…
Big News for Small Business
The SBA recently (September 25, 2012) issued three final rules in the Federal Register, effective October 24, that increase the size standards for some types of firms in three North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) sectors, including…
Looking Back on BRAC: Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas
Located in the heart of San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston is one of the nation’s oldest Army bases. It was established in 1845—in rented buildings and a quartermaster supply depot in the Alamo—as the Post at…
Plum Island for Sale?
Expatriat British novelist and travel writer Lawrence Durrell, writing in Reflections on a Marine Venus, described a “rare but by no means unknown affliction of spirit” that he dubbed “islomania.” “These are people,” he stated, “who…
What You Should Know About the Public Buildings Reform Act
The relationship between the 112th Congress and GSA is not particularly cozy. The House of Representatives, under the leadership of Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman, John Mica (R-FL), has sparred with GSA over efforts to relocate…
USPS Facilities Closures: The Odyssey Continues
A plan to close hundreds of postal facilities and eliminate overnight delivery of first-class mail would not save as much as the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has projected—according, at least, to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC),…
Why Prince George’s County Won’t Improve Its Share of GSA Leasing Anytime Soon
Prince George’s County leaders and their Congressional representatives have long complained that they have been spurned by the GSA. As evidence, they point to a 2007 University of Maryland report, which determined that the County is…
Looking Back on BRAC: Fort Bragg, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Occupying more than 251 square miles and covering parts of four counties (Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke and Moore) in southeastern North Carolina, Fort Bragg is one of the largest military complexes in the world. Recent BRAC-related construction…
GAO Urges More Collocation, Strategic Partnerships
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently recommended that federal property-owning agencies work together and with other agencies to coordinate their space needs, in order to identify ways in which they can share space (collocate), which…