Seventeen of the 24 largest departments and independent agencies reduced their space in 2016 but of those, seven did not meet their reduction target while nine exceeded it and the other had targeted an increase but still reduced space, GAO has said.
GAO was reviewing initiatives of OMB and GSA calling for a smaller federal “footprint” in office and warehouse space. Under a 2015 OMB memo, agencies are required to set annual reduction targets for a five-year period and update their real property plans annually; GSA meanwhile increased its attention to managing space requests by tenant agencies.
Actions by individual agencies included for example the Agriculture Department’s move to consolidate staff from five component agencies into two buildings, resulting in an average space per employee of 250 square feet, down from as high as 420.
“In taking these actions, the agencies most often identified the cost of space reduction projects as a challenge to achieving their targets. Agencies cited costs such as for space renovations to accommodate more staff and required environmental clean-up before disposing of property as challenges to completing projects. Some agencies required to maintain offices across the country reported that their mission requirements limit their ability to reduce their space,” GAO said.
Of the other CFO Act agencies, four increased space, two made no change and one was deemed not applicable.
The report also found that GSA met its 2016 performance goal to have an annual vacant space rate of no more than 3.2 percent in its federally owned and leased buildings. “However, given the recent implementation of the space reduction initiative, it is too early to determine the extent to which agencies will return space to GSA prior to the end of their leases and the effect on GSA’s inventory,” it said.
