Financial Management | Manage Property Effectively

The Federal government owns or leases roughly 1.1 million real property assets, including land, buildings, and structures. Within this portfolio, there are opportunities for savings by reducing Federally occupied space and/or using and operating space more efficiently. To achieve this goal, the Administration has taken several steps to improve the management of Federal real property. In June 2010, the President directed Federal civilian agencies to achieve $3 billion in savings by FY 2012 through reducing annual operating costs, generating income through disposing of assets, using existing real property more effectively by consolidating existing space, expanding telework, and other space realignment efforts. Additionally, within his FY 2012 Budget, the President introduced a transformative proposal to significantly reduce and realign our Federal civilian real property inventory. Subsequently, the Administration transmitted to Congress a draft bill (Civilian Property Realignment Act) which expanded on this proposal.

The chart to the right depicts the savings goals and the savings achieved so far for ten of the major land holding agencies as well as all the CFO Act agencies combined. Further detail is available on each agency at their page on this site.

Efficient Real Property Management Results in Cost Savings

On June 10, 2010, the President issued a memorandum on “Disposing of Unneeded Federal Real Estate," that directed agencies to scrutinize and eliminate unneeded real property. Agencies have been working aggressively with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to meet the President’s goal of $3 billion in cost-savings on civilian real property by the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2012.

To facilitate the sharing of opportunities, information, and best practices amongst Federal agencies, OMB has established the Real Property Advisory Committee (RPAC). The RPAC members, eight Senior Real Property Officers and Chief Financial Officers from Federal agencies, are tasked with identifying near-term and long-term opportunities for cost savings and realigning the inventory to agency mission and service delivery in the 21^st century.

The chart to the right depicts the savings goals and the savings achieved so far for ten of the major land holding agencies as well as all the remaining CFO Act agencies combined. Below is a table that breaks down all the CFO Act Agency’s goal and achievements. Further detail is available thru the agency link in the table below (Agency Breakdown).

Government-wide Progress to Date

This metric shows the progress that has been made over time government-wide to achieve the President's $3 billion goal. Agencies have risen to the challenge and identified $3.366 billion in savings. While much has been accomplished, much is still planned, and agencies are actively engaged in finding ways to save costs by reducing their footprint further through disposals or consolidations, saving energy and operating costs and sharing space with other agencies. To find out more about a specific agency’s efforts, please go to their agency page which can be found through the Agency Breakdown below.

Government-wide Savings by Category

This metric shows the different ways agencies are saving to achieve the $3 billion goal by the end of FY 2012. Each agency has submitted its plan for how they will reach their goal. All identified cost saving methods used by agencies have been grouped into four categories. The chart to the right shows what has been achieved to date in each of these categories. The four categories are:

Disposal: This category captures the benefit associated with the disposal of property, i.e. the proceeds of the sale and the operating cost avoidance.

Space Management: This is the broadest category. It includes cost savings associated with “direct” space management decisions such as: lowering operating costs through renegotiation or elimination of leases; consolidation of offices; reducing square footage through techniques such as as reduction in office and work station sizes; and/or moving from leased to Federally owned space.

Sustainability: This category predominantly captures savings from more efficient use of energy and utilities.

Innovation: This category captures real property savings that occur as a result of other management improvements. An example would be teleworking which would allow for shared use of workstations.

As can be seen by the graph to the right space management represents approximately 50% of the savings and this trend is expected to continue. Every agency has identified some form of space management initiative that impacts their footprint and many have plans for considerable reductions by FY2015.

Federal Real Property Profile

The Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP) is the single comprehensive inventory system that contains data on all Federal real property assets. The Federal portfolio is vast and diverse, totaling over 1.1 million assets (land, structures, and buildings), including leased and owned properties.

The Federal Government owns and leases buildings in more than 750 market areas. Of these markets, the top fifteen agencies represent more than 60% of the total rentable square feet in the inventory. The majority of Federal buildings are concentrated in large commercial markets such as Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC. The volume and types of assets are constantly changing as agencies expand some programs, contract others, consolidate operations, and change the workplace and the delivery of the mission. As seen in the graph to the right, the predominant use of the buildings by size is office space followed by warehouses, services, and family housing. The "All Others" slice of the graph is made up of numerous minor categories that includes laboratories, hospitals, prisons & detention centers and industrial buildings.

Additional information on the Federal Government’s real property holdings can be found in the Federal Real Property Summary Reports that are published annually by GSA.

Agency Breakdown
Agencies	Cost Saving Goal Through FY 2012 (Millions)	Achieved as of Jan 2012 (Millions)
Department of Agriculture	300	262
Department of Commerce	10	8.4
Department of the Interior	160	123
Department of Justice	335	248.5
Department of Labor	80	81.2
Department of State	325	170.5
Department of The Treasury	20	5.7
Office of Personnel Management	1	1
Social Security Administration	15	14.2
Nuclear Regulatory Commission	1	0.6
Department of Veterans Affairs	80	50.2
General Services Administration	450	317.6
National Science Foundation	1	1.3
Environmental Protection Agency	10	17.7
Department of Transportation	40	28.4
Department of Homeland Security	260	187
U.S. Agency for International Development	130	76.1
Small Business Administration	1	0.6
Department of Health and Human Services	20	18.8
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	100	61.1
Department of Housing and Urban Development	1	0.9
Department of Energy	375	361
Department of Education	1	0.64
Department of Defense	650	362.3

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Agency Breakdown