The House Government Reform Committee has put off a vote,
at least for now, on HR-3134, the Federal Real Property
Disposal Pilot Program and Management Improvement Act .
The bill would authorize the creation of a Federal Real
Property Disposal Pilot Program to permit the expedited
disposal of excess property, surplus property, or
under-performing real property in accordance with the
provisions in the legislation.
The panel had planned to vote on the bill last week, but
the measure was pulled off the schedule with no immediate
indication of when a vote will be held.
According to the committee, the federal government’s real
estate portfolio has over 3.2 billion square feet in
nearly 525,000 buildings valued at over $328 billion but
that despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent
each year to maintain these properties, many are in
disrepair, lack updated technological infrastructure,
pose health and safety threats, and no longer meet the
government’s mission needs. Federal property management
has a place on GAO’s high risk series. Of the 8,000
buildings managed by the General Services Administration,
more than half are over 50 years old and are in
deteriorating condition requiring an estimated $5.7
billion in repairs. As a result, agencies are often
forced to vacate properties and lease costly space from
the private sector.
H.R. 3134 would let the government to dispose of costly
real properties it no longer needs, and codify provisions
from President Bush’s E.O. 13327, such as the inventory
database, the Federal Real Property Council and the
Senior Real Property Officers. The legislation would
create a five-year pilot program to allow for the
expedited disposal of federal excess, surplus, or
under-performing real properties outside of the
bureaucratic conveyance process. Under the pilot, the
director of OMB would select properties to participate
in the program, provided the government sold the
roperty at or above fair market value, and provided
that the sale would generate proceeds for the government.
As an incentive to participate, the affected agency is
permitted to retain a portion of those proceeds.
