We have written a lot on this blog about how the GSA-leased property market is getting smaller, a trend we expect to continue easily for the next few years. Yes, one day this trend may reverse itself but there are…
Category: Downsizing
Data Center Consolidation: Getting There, But Not There Yet
In 2010, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the fiscal watchdog within the federal government, issued an order requiring that federal agencies consolidate data centers in order to save money and reduce redundancies. Twenty-four agencies,…
Which Way The Political Wind Blows
During the first half of this year Congress has hosted a number of hearings, both on Capitol Hill and in various cities across the United States, that provide a clear view of its objectives regarding federal real estate. All of…
Freeze. Measure. Reduce: New Steps for Downsizing Federal Real Estate
In 2012, the Obama administration’s Freeze the Footprint policy order mandated that the federal government reduce its real estate footprint and curb its accumulation of unused or underused properties. The following year, the Office of Management…
Cutting the Federal Workforce
The federal government is big. That is something about which few people of whatever political stripe would disagree. Excluding members of the armed services (but including Postal Service workers), there are about 2.7 million federal employees—as…
Obama’s FY 2016 Budget: Higher Wages, More Spending, Less Real Estate
There’s good news if you’re a federal employee, assuming that President Obama’s proposed 2016 budget is enacted intact: It will come with a 1.3 percent pay increase. Now, 1.3 percent isn’t a big hike, but it’s…
Net Demand Has Peaked (at least for now)
You may have to squint to see it in the graph above but the federal lease inventory controlled by GSA has declined by a little more than a million square feet over the past year. This should be…
Wanted: New Uses for Old Courthouses
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 has sparked a faint glow of optimism that agencies will plan more strategically for their space needs in the coming years. Last spring, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report estimated…
Downsizing: It’s Going to Happen and Here’s Why
The trend in space utilization is towards greater efficiency, mobile work and collaborative workspaces. As we have discussed many times on this blog (including here and here), the federal government has embarked on efforts across its…
Federal Courts Downsizing
Even as construction began on a long-awaited, 600,000 SF courthouse in Los Angeles this fall, efforts to downsize or close federal court facilities picked up in pace. Last week, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts…