Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act of 2023
Floor Speech
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Chair, I do think it is incumbent on me to characterize my position and recharacterize my friend's characterization of my position, which, as I recall, was to close buildings and kick out Federal employees.
That is not my position. In fact, in many ways, I share the goals of the chair of the subcommittee, that it is clear we have much more federally owned and leased space than is currently being used given the work schedules and changes that have taken place since COVID. It is necessary for us to look at how best to consolidate that space, to rightsize that space, given its usage.
The problem I have is the hammer approach that this particular bill takes by setting a hard and fast 60 percent rule rather than looking at the flexibility necessary when you are considering agency by agency, division by division within those agencies, and how that space can be used properly and most efficiently.
We have worked on a bipartisan basis on the committee on a wide range of policies, including rightsizing the Federal real estate footprint. Just yesterday, we passed, on suspension, the FASTA Reform Act, a bill that the chairman himself sponsored that will expedite the disposal of excess Federal property.
When we work together, we can make some really good progress on this and other issues, but today's bill does fall short by failing to take into account the complexity of the Federal leasing process and using an incomplete and flawed metric for measuring the occupancy rate of Federal buildings.
I do welcome the opportunity to work with any Member in good faith, and we have done that, again, on many issues in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. We all want to make genuine improvements on the Federal real estate program.
Mr. Chair, I do oppose this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
Mr. Chair, I include in the Record the Statement of Administration Policy that the administration strongly opposes H.R. 6276; a letter dated March 12 from the AFL-CIO in opposition to H.R. 6276; a letter dated March 11 from the Federal Workers Alliance opposing H.R. 6276; and a letter dated March 8 from the American Federation of Government Employees opposing H.R. 6276. Statement of Administration Policy H.R. 6276--Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies (USE IT) Act of 2023--Rep. Perry, R-PA
The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 6276, the USE IT Act, which would direct the Director of the Office of Management Budget (OMB) and the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) to ensure that Federal agencies' building utilization meets an arbitrary level of not less than a 60 percent average each year and, if an agency does not reach the target, GSA and OMB would have to forcibly reduce the agency's space. While the Administration believes that the Federal real estate portfolio needs to be evaluated and optimized, the Administration believes that agencies' unique missions require individualized approaches to improving space utilization. H.R. 6276 does not consider the varying mission and technical requirements of individual agencies or the age and original design of affected facilities when directing the OMB Director and GSA Administrator to develop and implement a plan to consolidate multiple agency headquarters functions into fewer buildings within the National Capital Region. These buildings, many of which are historic, would require major modernization and reconfiguration, prior to supporting dramatically increased occupancy levels. Instead, the Administration recommends strengthening the collection of utilization data by Federal agencies and providing sufficient funding to GSA and affected agencies to execute necessary consolidations. The Administration is committed to working with agencies to improve their utilization of Federal space and to identify opportunities to reduce space. ____ AFL-CIO, March 12, 2024.
Dear Representative: On behalf of the AFL-CIO, I write to express our opposition to H.R. 6276, the Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act of 2023 (the USE IT Act). The metrics mandated by this act fail to accurately measure occupancy of federal buildings and leased space in a manner that reflects the distinctive ways federal workers perform their duties to benefit the public.
While the USE IT Act aims to track, measure and report on occupancy rates of federal buildings and federally leased space, the yardstick used to measure federal building and leased space occupancy is overly broad and unlikely to accurately reflect occupancy rates and efficiencies. The USE IT Act requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA) to determine whether a federal agency meets a 60 percent or higher occupancy rate. The 60 percent metric does not relate to the mission of a federal agency, or how federal workers do their jobs to achieve that mission.
Many federal workers, such as inspectors, law enforcement officers, and engineers, split their time between fieldwork and federal buildings or federal leased space. Other federal workers have agreements with their agency for alternative workplace arrangements. The overly broad metric penalizes federal agencies and their staff for long term work arrangements that function well.
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of flexibility in how and where work was performed. Federal agencies had plans in place allowing federal workers in every state and the District of Columbia area to continue to serve the public during the pandemic, weather emergencies, or when federal buildings or leased spaces are inaccessible. The arbitrary 60 percent occupancy rate metric required by the USE IT Act makes it less likely that federal agencies and the workforce can continue to serve the public in an efficient and effective manner. I urge you to oppose the USE IT Act. Sincerely, William Samuel, Director, Government Affairs. ____ Federal Workers Alliance, March 11, 2024. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
Dear Representative: We write to you as the executive officers of the Federal Workers Alliance (FWA), a labor coalition representing over 550,000 Federal and Postal workers, to urge you to vote in opposition of H.R. 6276, the Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act of 2023, also known as the USE IT Act.
As you know, the USE IT Act would direct the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA) to establish standard methodologies to measure occupancy in federal buildings and federally leased space. The bill also requires federal agencies to work with GSA to implement technologies to track occupancy and usage rates of federal buildings and to provide reports to Congress on the collected data, GSA is then required by the act to take actions against agencies in federal buildings that report less than 60 percent usage rates, such as consolidating building space with other agencies or selling excess building space.
In setting an arbitrary number, such as 60 percent, the bill fails to account for ongoing strategic planning, current changes, and future trends in accordance with the federal government's space requirements. Making premature or not fully evaluated rearrangements of federal space for the sake of satisfying an arbitrary number is often a costly and wasteful endeavor, especially if the same or equivalent space must be repurchased or leased at a higher rate in the future. It is better to leave these decisions to the authorizations and appropriations processes within Congress, and allow those decisions to overlay with GSA and the agencies themselves to ensure that decisions are based on strategy and economics, rather than an arbitrary number.
The FWA further opposes the USE IT Act because OMB and GSA, in addition to other federal agencies, currently measure occupancy and usage rates within federally owned and leased buildings. Since 2020, new technologies have been piloted to collect this data and GSA reports that it has already consolidated federal spaces based on occupancy rates and usage data. GSA is expected to continue to track this data and consolidate office space consistent with the agency's current practices, therefore rendering the USE IT Act unnecessary.
OMB, GSA, and all federal agencies have been adjusting for the efficient use of office space since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to do so as agencies establish and implement policies relating to in-person work for federal employees. Agency leaders and federal employees alike now have a profound understanding of how they can best utilize building space and remote work. It is our position that the USE IT Act will only create obstacles for agencies in carrying out their mission in service to the American public.
Thank you for considering our request. We are available to provide further information about our opposition to the USE IT Act of 2023. If you have any questions, please contact FWA legislative cochairs Faraz Kahn or Steve Lenkan. Sincerely,
Federal Education Association (FEA); International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF); International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE); International Plate Printers, Die Stampers, Plate Makers and Engravers of North America (PPDSPM&E of N.A.); National Association of Agriculture Employees (NAAE); National Association of Government Employees, SEIU (NAGE); National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM); National Weather Service Employees Organization (NWSEO); Patent Office Professional Association (POPA); Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS). ____ American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Washington, DC, March 8, 2024.
Dear Representative: On behalf of the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (AFGE), which represents over 750,000 federal and District of Columbia employees in 70 agencies, I write to express AFGE's opposition to H.R. 6276, the ``Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act of 2023,'' which would direct the General Services Administration and the Office of Management and Budget to measure occupancy in federal buildings and federally leased space and reduce or consolidate space if utilization rates fall below 60 percent.
H.R. 6276's stated goal is to reduce federal real estate holdings and right size the federal portfolio. While there may be benefits derived from studying the federal government's real estate footprint, AFGE opposes the bill's blunt and seemingly arbitrary metric to determine when a federal agency fails to meet a 60 percent or higher building occupancy rate. This metric fails in two important ways: (1) it ignores the tens of thousands of federal workers, many of whom AFGE represents, whose work is split, often unpredictably from week-to-week, between an agency building and the field, such as food safety inspectors, law enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents, TSA supervisors, park rangers, and firefighters, to name only a few; (2) it treats alternative work schedule programs the same way, making no distinction between the agency employee who, pursuant to an agency workplace arrangement, teleworks one day a week and the employee who teleworks two or three days a week; and (3) despite a few narrow exceptions, it treats personnel occupancy as the sole measure of whether a building is needed, overlooking the full range of federal building uses that includes healthcare, research and development, equipment maintenance and repair, manufacturing, meeting space, and hearing rooms. Indeed, it would be hard to find many sizeable private employers who treat human occupancy as the sole determinant of their space needs; yet the federal government is the largest and most diverse employer in the world.
H.R. 6276's failure in the utilization rate calculation to account for distinctions in the federal workforce, the role of alternative work schedule programs in meeting agencies recruitment and retention needs, the types of work federal workers perform, and, particularly, the blurry line between so-called desk jobs and jobs of a more physical nature risks inaccurately producing building utilization rates that fall below the 60 percent threshold. Such inaccurate calculations in turn would force agencies to either consolidate with other agencies or sell or dispose of ''excess space'' that in fact is needed and should be retained to accommodate agency employees who spend all or significant amounts of their time working from an agency building.
H.R. 6276 also ignores important lessons of the recent past. As the COVID-19 pandemic vividly demonstrated, major emergencies can threaten the continuity of government operations, both in the District of Columbia and outside the Capitol region where almost 80 percent of federal workers are employed. To prepare for these crises, federal agencies have adopted polices and technologies to ensure their employees can perform their jobs safely, securely, and without interruption from either an agency building or remotely. Combining the use of alternative work schedule programs where appropriate with traditional workplace arrangements has contributed to this preparation, enabling federal agencies and their employees to serve the public efficiently in ordinary times and quickly adapt to exigent circumstances in times of crisis. If enacted, H.R. 6276 would discourage agencies from including alternative work schedule programs as part of their contingency planning.
Please oppose H.R. 6276, the ``Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act of 2023.'' if you have questions or need additional information, please contact Daniel Horowitz, Keith Abouchar, or Julie Tippens. Sincerely, Julie N. Tippens, Director, Legislative Department.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, although I am not opposed to the amendment.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, this amendment requires GSA to include in its occupancy agreements with Federal tenants a requirement that tenant agencies submit a report on utilization and usage to GSA. It also requires the return of office space by the tenant to GSA if occupancy falls below 60 percent for 6 months within any 1-year period.
GSA previously allowed tenant agencies to return unneeded space back to GSA with 120-days' notice, but in May of 2023, GSA changed its policy and now all new occupancy agreements between GSA and Federal tenants must include a noncancellation clause to prevent agencies from returning space to GSA.
Requiring agencies to return space if occupancy falls below 60 percent for 6 months does not account for the fact that space costs incurred by the government still remain under the lease contract.
While I have concerns about the mechanics and the cost of an agency returning space to GSA with this amendment, I will not oppose this amendment.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, again, I do not oppose the amendment on this side of the aisle, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, although I am not opposed to the amendment.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Auchincloss).
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, my biggest concern with the underlying bill is that it defines occupancy as the total number of employees physically working from the offices at least 5 days a week. Many Federal employees do not actually sit at their desks at all because they are out in the field working.
As the bill is currently written, these employees--as well as Federal employees who have approved alternative work schedules--would not be included in occupancy counts. This amendment makes a slight improvement to that definition, as was explained by the Representative from Massachusetts.
The effort to count occupants in buildings is worthwhile, but only if we ensure that all occupants, including those who have been sanctioned and approved with their alternative work schedules, are included.
This amendment will improve the bill, and I thank the Representative from Pennsylvania and the Representative from Massachusetts for their efforts.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, section 4 of H.R. 6276 requires the heads of Federal agencies to submit to the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration and Congress a report on the usage of real property.
The amendment that the Representative from Wyoming offers expands the reporting requirement by including the telework and remote work practices of the agency and the impact those policies have on utilization rates and buildings occupied by the respective agency.
It certainly would be helpful for Congress to have a clearer picture of these policies and practices across the government.
Mr. Chair, I support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, section 3 of H.R. 6276 requires the heads of Federal agencies to work with the Administrator of General Services to identify, deploy, and use sensors and other technologies to measure the occupancies of Federal buildings.
The amendment from the Representative from Wyoming will require that Personal Identity Verification badge swipe data should also be used but only capture the first credentialed use of the day for each cardholder.
Ensuring that each person is counted one time--not every time they may leave and return--would provide accurate representation of building utilization and meet the goals of Congress to better assess the use of Federal office space.
Mr. Chair, I support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, the amendment offered by the Representative from Georgia requires some significant reporting on occupancy, utilization rates, and costs by the heads of Federal agencies to the Office of Management and Budget, the General Services Administration, and Congress.
Information gathering and transparency is vital to efficient and effective governing, so I will not oppose the amendment.
I do want to point out, however, that agency heads are already required to report occupancy and utilization data, and that data can be found on GSA's annual performance overview reports on GSA's website that the public can access now.
Mr. Chair, I will not oppose the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I have no other speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, section 4 of H.R. 6276 requires the heads of Federal agencies to submit to the Office of Management and Budget, the General Services Administration, and Congress a report on the usage of real property.
The amendment offered by the Representative from Georgia for the Representative from Florida requires the Government Accountability Office to report to Congress on the costs to Federal agencies associated with complying with section 4 of the underlying bill.
The GAO's report must include the cost of Federal agencies of surveying, monitoring, and deploying sensors and technologies to measure the occupancy and actual utilization rates of space in public buildings and space leased by the Federal Government.
Mr. Chair, I support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, we have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, the amendment offered by the Representative from Tennessee requires the heads of Federal agencies to submit a report to the inspector general of each respective agency on buildings under the agency's jurisdiction that has capacity for 500 or more employees that has a 20 percent utilization rate or less.
Upon receipt of the report, the relevant inspector general is to investigate evidence of fraud, abuse, or mismanagement.
Now, I will say this, I don't know why this amendment is necessary. I understand the Federal real estate has been on the General Accounting Office's High-Risk list for years, but nowhere in GAO's reporting were there claims of fraud, abuse, or mismanagement. Even though this is only a reporting requirement, requiring the inspector general of every Federal agency to investigate could be a waste of time and resources.
This amendment seems to be a solution chasing a problem, but I will not oppose it.
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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I will close on this amendment by briefly speaking to the broader bill. The goal that we share in Congress is to ensure that Congress, the General Services Administration, the agencies all adjust to the post-COVID life that we have in Federal real estate, that we are rightsizing Federal real estate, and that we get rid of the office space we don't need and use the office space that we do need.
This amendment is an attempt to do that. I certainly will not oppose it, but I do ask folks to consider it.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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