This story was updated at 11:09 a.m. on March 5. GSA pulled its original list of “non-core properties” on Wednesday. GSA’s original list of properties considered for disposal is available here.
The General Services Administration added the headquarters of more than a dozen agencies — including its own — to a list of hundreds of “non-core” assets designated for sale or disposal.
GSA, in a statement on its website Tuesday, provided a list of more than 440 “non-core” assets it will consider offloading from its portfolio of federally owned buildings.
“GSA will consider non-core assets for divestment from government ownership in an orderly fashion to ensure taxpayers no longer pay for empty and underutilized federal office space, or the significant maintenance costs associated with long-term building ownership,” the agency wrote.
GSA originally provided a list of more than 440 properties on Tuesday, but revised the list to about 320 properties later that day. The agency on Wednesday withdrew the entire list of properties, but states a new list is “coming soon.”
The agency estimates these non-core assets amount to 80 million square feet of mostly office space, which would require more than $8 billion to revitalize.
GSA faces a multi-billion-dollar maintenance backlog for buildings it owns. The average GSA-owned building is over 50 years old.
The agency said selling or disposing of these properties could save the federal government up to $430 million in operating costs each year.
“Decades of funding deficiencies have resulted in many of these buildings becoming functionally obsolete and unsuitable for use by our federal workforce,” GSA wrote. “We can no longer hope that funding will emerge to resolve these longstanding issues. GSA’s decisive action to dispose of non-core assets leverages the private sector, drives improvements for our agency customers, and best serves local communities.”
Meanwhile, GSA said its Public Buildings Service identified core federally-owned assets within its portfolio needed for critical government operations — including courthouses, land ports of entry, and facilities “critical to our national defense and law enforcement.”
“These core assets are intrinsically significant to the mission of the federal government and will be retained for long-term needs,” GSA wrote.
Among its non-core assets, GSA included the headquarters for the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Justice, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services.
The list also includes headquarters for the FBI, Federal Aviation Administration, Office of Personnel Management, U.S. Agency for International Development, Bureau of Prisons, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
GSA has also identified a more than 400,000 square-foot annex at the Social Security Administration’s headquarters as a “non-core” property.
Public Buildings Service Commissioner Michael Peters has called for cutting the total federal real estate portfolio by 50%, and is planning to sell GSA’s own 1800 F St. headquarters.
Federal News Network previously reported that GSA leaders are considering relocating GSA employees to the Interior Department’s headquarters.
In addition to downsizing federal office space, GSA is also pursuing deep cuts to its workforce.
GSA on Monday night terminated about 600 employees on Monday night, as part of a nonvoluntary Reduction in Force.
“Notices just started hitting inboxes without warning,” one GSA employee told Federal News Network.
The employee said more terminations are expected, “but not the full amount GSA proposed.”
“They only got partial approval” from the Office of Personnel Management, the employee said.
A PBS employee who received a RIF notice Monday evening said that “entire divisions” of the agency were being eliminated.
“No consideration for veteran status or seniority,” the former PBS employee said.
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