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Redevelopment of Federal Excess Property Legislation Advances

AGC Pushes for Redevelopment of Excess Federal Real Property

Members of the House and Senate have recently introduced and advanced legislation that could encourage federal agencies to dispose of, consolidate, or redevelop billions of dollars of excess or underutilized civilian federal real property. This could translate into significant private and federal construction work throughout the nation. As such, advancing these bills are a significant legislative priority for AGC.

The bipartisan proposals—the Federal Asset Sale and Transfer Act (H.R. 4465), the Public Buildings Reform and Savings Act (H.R. 4487), the Federal Property Management Reform Act (S. 2509) and the Federal Asset Sale and Transfer Act (S. 2375)—were recently introduced in Congress, with the Senate bills advancing through the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee this week.  These bills would establish an independent federal board to oversee disposal of excess civilian agency real property and include plans to:

  • Sell federal properties of at least $8 billion in value over six years;
  • Sell the existing Department of Energy Headquarters Complex in Washington, D.C., and build a new one;
  • Consolidate, sell or redevelop postal facilities around the nation;
  • Allow for unsolicited proposals for the exchange, sale or redevelopment of federal real property; and
  • Streamline the federal real property disposal process.

The disposal of unneeded federal real property could allow for millions and potentially billions of dollars in private and federal construction work throughout the nation, as excess federal buildings exist in every state. For example, GSA sold an abandoned heating plant in Washington, D.C., for $19.5 million that will be converted into high-end condominiums, requiring private construction work of more than $100 million. According to the most recent Federal Real Property Summary, the government owns more than 254,000 buildings, comprising 2.5 billion square feet of space, costing the taxpayer $14.4 billion annually in maintenance. Recent estimates show 77,000 buildings are underutilized, costing $1.7 billion annually.

For more information, please contact Jimmy Christianson at christiansonj@agc.org or (703) 837-5325.

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