Summary: With an enormous real estate portfolio of almost 450,000 buildings, 3 billion square feet of space, and 650 million acres of land worth hundreds of billions of dollars, the U.S. government is one of the world's largest property owners. GAO testified that five key obstacles inhibit the government's ability to acquire and manage real property in a more cost-effective, businesslike manner. These are (1) the General Services Administration's (GSA) monopoly in providing office space and its preoccupation with day-to-day real property operations, (2) a lack of strategic focus and needed information for capital spending decisions, (3) poor asset management practices, (4) Federal Buildings Fund shortfalls, and (5) budget scorekeeping rules that are biased in favor of operating leases over real property ownership. GAO senses that the new leadership team at GSA is open to fresh thinking about these issues and that broader Congressional interest exists in public buildings issues. GAO is hopeful that these developments could produce a fundamental reassessment of public buildings policy.
