While the federal government owns thousands of historic structures, maintaining those properties in a time of increasingly constrained budgets poses considerable challenges. One of those challenges involves the need for accurate information about such properties. Where are they, in what condition are they; are they occupied or vacant, being used by the government or leased […]
Despite widespread cutbacks throughout the federal government, one area has been growing across multiple agencies: cybersecurity. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), for example, has increased its cybersecurity workforce by more than 600 percent over the past few years, and expects to hire at least another 600 cyber professionals—and possibly many more. DHS’s FY2013 budget […]
The President’s 218-page FY 2015 federal budget request was released a week ago and it underscores the growing importance of cybersecurity. The word “cyber”, for example, appears 40 times in the budget. Collaboration is another major theme and Obama’s proposed request “identifies and promotes cross-agency cybersecurity indicatives and priorities, including improving cybersecurity information sharing while […]
As procrastinating Americans prepare to file their 2012 federal tax returns by midnight tonight (April 15), we thought this would be a good time to take a look at the agency to which they’ll be sent: the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS’s mission is to “provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them […]
This morning, Bisnow, hosted its 2013 Federal Property Summit featuring a great cast of speakers including: Dan Tangherlini, the acting (and soon to be permanent) head of the GSA; Dorothy Robyn, GSA’s Public Buildings Service Commissioner; Norman Dong Deputy Controller at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB); and a host of private-sector professionals who specialize in […]
The Colliers Government Solutions team represents owners of government-leased properties nationally. So, we travel a lot. This slideshow profiles my recent trip to Los Angeles, California. (Use arrow buttons to advance slides) https://www.capitolmarkets.com/wp-content/uploads/slideshow-gallery/Approach to LAX.JPG My colleague, Jarrett Morrell, took this photo of downtown L.A. (the cluster of high-rise towers in the distance) from the window of […]
The following is an excerpt from a presentation I gave at the National Federal Development Association conference last month in Washington, D.C. The presentation covered three themes: 1) The size of the federally leased property market is small; 2) It is getting smaller, and; 3) There are five factors that could return the market to future growth. This article profiles the […]
In a recent Washington Business Journal article entitled “Time is running out for the feds to take advantage of Washington’s tenant market” (*paywall*), the reporter noted that GSA will struggle to take full advantage of the current tenant’s market before the pendulum swings back to the landlord’s favor. This, despite the fact that GSA has many leases expiring in the […]
As we reported yesterday, the federal government—the biggest property owner in the United States—is now in the process of disposing of billions of dollars worth of properties that it no longer needs. While the disposal process is well underway—GSA disposed of 88 vacant or underused properties in FY2010 and 2011—some 12,000 domestic federal properties remain on […]
U.S. Dept of Interior Headquarters (photo: GSA) When the new Department of the Interior (DOI) headquarters opened in 1936, employees enjoyed the latest in building amenities and technologies: a gymnasium, movable steel office partitions, a soda fountain, and the first air conditioning system in a large federal building. Construction of the 1,300,000 SF structure in […]
GSA delegated leasing process as provided in GAO’s report. The federal entity principally charged with leasing property for the use of government agencies is the U.S. General Services Administration. In keeping with decentralization efforts in many areas of government, however, GSA long ago created a real-estate exchange database called G-REX that in turn assists the […]
Near the end of his Administration, on December 16, 2016, President Barack Obama made a Republican politician very happy. Jeff Denham, first elected to Congress from California’s 19th District and reelected three times from the redrawn 10th District, had made it a central plank of his first run for the House of Representatives that the […]
Congressmen David McKinley (left) and Peter Welch (right). Reps. David McKinley (R-WV) and Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced bipartisan legislation on May 23 that would facilitate landlord and tenant cooperation toward improved energy efficiency in commercial buildings. H.R. 2126, known as the Better Buildings Act of 2013, was assigned to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. […]
The FBI’s search for a new headquarters—as well as GSA’s proposal to swap the dated J. Edgar Hoover (JEH) Building for a new FBI campus outside of downtown Washington, D.C.—could be complicated by the House committee that still must authorize GSA to proceed with the project. (The Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works already has […]
