Thanks to extensive media coverage, both positive and negative, and to countless spy novels and movies, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the best-known intelligence unit within the U.S. government, virtually synonymous with intelligence generally. In…
Category: Agencies
Building Cybersecurity, Homeland Security, and the GAO
Think of the many ways in which computers control buildings, from HVAC systems to electronic door locks and the flow of gas, water, and electricity. Now think of the many ways in which those computers can…
Consolidations, Closings, and the US Postal Service
This is not a good time to consider embarking on a career as a letter carrier‚ especially not for someone living in a small town where not much mail comes down the chute. Neither is it…
Federal Warehouses: Assets in Need of Better Management
Ninety million square feet. That’s about three times the size of Manhattan’s Central Park. According to a new report to Congress from the US Government Accountability Office, that’s also the amount of warehouse space the federal…
Funding Controversy Leaves DHS’s Consolidation Plan in Doubt
St. Elizabeths Hospital, perhaps best known as the psychiatric facility in which the poet Ezra Pound was held for thirteen years after having been convicted of treason, and where would-be presidential assassin John Hinckley has been…
GSA Swap-Construct Exchanges
It’s a simple proposition: Build us a new building, even something as simple as a parking garage, and you can have the old one. That old building might be an office tower, a courthouse, or some…
Social Security Office Closings Under Scrutiny
From Quincy, Florida, to Ketchikan, Alaska, field offices of the Social Security Administration (SSA) are being shuttered. Since 2010, 64 field offices have closed around the country, the largest number in the agency’s 79-year history. In…
Energy Savings Performance Contracts Leverage Scarce Federal Dollars
The GSA reinforced its role as a key partner in achieving President Obama’s greenhouse gas and energy efficiency goals in an announcement on June 11 in Lanham, Maryland. Agency Administrator Dan Tangherlini revealed a major Energy…
Spotlight: TSA
Traveling as much as we do to represent national owners of government-leased properties, it’s inevitable that one of the federal agencies we encounter most is the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The agency’s current procurement for a long term lease…
Spotlight: VHA
Among the revelations in the unfolding scandal over U.S. veterans’ health care is the sprawling size of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). A vast component of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the VHA runs the…