Which agency administers more public land than any other federal agency? Located within the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administers more than 245 million surface acres (approximately one eighth of the nation’s land mass)—most of it in 12 western states, including Alaska—while also managing 700 million acres of sub-surface […]
Photo: va.gov The federal Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) owns or operates 168 medical centers and 1,053 outpatient facilities that serve a population of 8.9 million veterans each year, ranking it among the largest healthcare providers in the United States. It is also one of the largest property-holding agencies in the federal government, owning 6,091 […]
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed by President Obama on February 13, 2009, called for major new construction and the energy-efficient modernization of federal office buildings, courthouses and land ports across the country. This article—which profiles the $139 million modernization project now underway at the Edith Green–Wendell Wyatt Federal Building at 1220 SE […]
Which federal agency’s motto is “Freedom’s Front Door”? The U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command (USMEPCOM)—a Department of Defense (DoD) joint civilian and military organization—is charged with the unique and challenging task of determining the physical, mental and moral qualifications of every potential new member of the nation’s armed services. Headquartered at the Great Lakes Naval […]
Which federal agency has been part of five different departments? The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began in 1891 as the Office of Superintendent of Immigration in the Treasury Department. In 1903, the by-then renamed Bureau of Immigration was transferred to the newly created Department of Commerce and Labor. In 1913, it was placed […]
GSA is on track to complete a two-year, $39 million project to link the building systems at 39 of its high-energy-use buildings in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas on schedule in October, Federal Times reported…
Rep. Jeff Denham (left) and Sen. Tom Carper (right) Congress has been busy this year working on bills meant to pave the way for the disposition of thousands of unneeded or underutilized properties. This is one of those rare instances where the Republican House and the Democratic Senate fundamentally agree. They both concede that the […]
Though the federal lease inventory continued to shrink in 2015, there was plenty of action, especially in the Washington, DC area where most of the big federal tenants reside. Here is a selection of the most notable transaction activity this past year: The Largest New Lease In October, GSA announced the award of a 839,000 RSF lease to Stonebridge Carras to […]
David W. Dyer Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse (Photo: Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) took his ongoing “Sitting on Our Assets” campaign to Florida this week (Monday, August 6), holding a hearing at the long-vacant David W. Dyer Federal […]
Politicians and economists can be accused of willfully obfuscating the “government employment trend” to serve their ideology. As an example, Republican Senator Rand Paul and liberal economist Paul Krugman engaged in a heated debate last Fall over whether government employment had increased or declined under the Obama administration. Rand Paul asserted that it had increased dramatically […]
As we mentioned in an earlier piece,we’re focusing on two federal agencies that serve Native Americans this week, in honor of Native American Day. The Indian Health Service (IHS), which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for providing federal health services to approximately 1.9 million American Indians and […]
As we predicted earlier this month, Rep. William “Bill” Shuster (R-Pa.) will replace Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) as chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee—the body that provides oversight for public buildings issues—in the 113th Congress. Mica, who had signaled that he would like to keep the post, was forced to step down as a result […]
According to the 2014 Global Investor Sentiment Report just released by Colliers International, U.S. investors surveyed remain bullish on the prospects for commercial real estate during the next 12 months, with 92% of respondents expecting to increase the level of investment in their property portfolios, compared with just 8% that plan to reduce their portfolios. Reflecting investor optimism, […]
When a landlord leases space to the federal government, it is most often a U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) contracting officer who signs the lease for the United States of America. In fact, as of this writing, the GSA leases more than 190 million square feet in the United States and its territories. The GSA, […]
