**UPDATE: Since the 2013 Shutdown, GSA has issued a new policy determination that allows for the agency to continue operating and making payments from the Federal Buildings Fund. In the event of a prolonged shutdown, GSA would…
Category: Budget and Spending
GSA’s Budget Woes: Part 2 (Where’s the Money to Pay the Rent?)
As discussed in Part 1 of this two-part series on GSA’s budget problems, Congress has screwed down the appropriations spigot, nearly shutting it off completely. That article showed how congressional appropriations for GSA’s Construction & Alterations…
GSA’s Budget Woes: Part 1 (Inadequate Funds to Support an Aging Inventory)
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has been suffering through budget cuts that have dramatically reduced funding for the construction, acquisition, renovations and even the basic maintenance of federal buildings. This has served to increase the…
Sequestration: It’s Here, Now What?
The Sequester has arrived–mostly unexpected, entirely unwelcome and apparently it intends to hang around a while. What does it mean for landlords of federal-leased properties? Fortunately, probably not much. At least not much new. The federal government has…
Sequester Stress
With both the House and Senate out of session this week, only four days remain for lawmakers and the White House to agree on a plan to reduce the deficit in order to avert sequestration—the $85…
“It’s Really Expensive To Be Poor”
“It’s really expensive to be poor.” This was the comment from Dr. Dorothy Robyn, the GSA’s Public Buildings Commissioner, at yesterday’s Federal Real Property Association conference in Washington, DC. How true! GSA’s inability to adequately fund…
2012: Government Real Estate Year In Review
If you think the world of government real estate is a staid and boring place, think again. There is a lot going on: big transactions, important policy and outright scandal. 2012 was no exception. We published…
New Approach Needed for St. Elizabeths DHS HQ?
The original $3.45 billion plan to consolidate the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters at a 4.5 million-square-foot campus on the site of the former St. Elizabeths Hospital—moving more than 14,000 workers from more than…
Will Moody’s Downgrade U.S. Credit Rating?
According to Moody’s Investors Service, last week’s election has not changed the “highly polarized and unpredictable” political landscape that still threatens the nation’s credit rating. In an analysis released today and outlined in a set of…
Sequestration Report a Non-Event?
The Obama administration’s “OMB Report Pursuant to the Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012,” released last Friday (September 14, 2012), outlines the “devastating” and “deeply destructive” impacts on virtually all aspects of the federal budget that will take…