“merely
enhances clarity of current agency business practices.”
Government Reform Committee Again Looking at Real Property
Management Legislation to address federal real property
management is again being reviewed by the House Government
Reform Committee.
Federal agencies are subject to laws limiting their
authority to acquire, manage and dispose of real property,
chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., said at a recent hearing.
“For many agencies, revenue-generating sales for real
property are not returned to agency capital accounts and
therefore reduce incentives for agencies to invest in
properties to make them usable,” Davis said in a prepared
statement.
The committee reviewed “narrowly tailored” language
authored by Davis and Budget Committee chairman Jim Nussle,
R-Iowa, that creates a five-year, $50 million pilot project
allowing, “expedited disposal of excess, surplus, or
underutilized federal real properties.”
Ten eligible properties could be sold at fair market value
each year under the legislation, and the agency affected
by the disposal could retain part of the proceeds, Davis
said. He did not how much.
The draft legislation comes out of HR-2548, the Federal
Property Asset Management Reform Act of 2003, co-sponsored
by Davis and Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., which
stalled partly because the Congressional Budget Office
said the bill would cost more than it would save, according
to the statement.
It said the draft legislation also codifies provisions in
Executive Order 13327, which borrowed provisions from
HR-2548 such as the creation of the senior real property
officer position, development of agency asset management
plans, and the creation of an accurate and updated real
property inventory.
