Summary: S. 2805 would require the General Services Administration (GSA) to take a leadership role--in collaboration with the heads of federal landholding agencies--to publish and maintain a current set of real property asset management principles. H.R. 3285 would require GSA to establish performance measures to track executive branch agencies' progress in achieving property management objectives and would compare the government's performance with that of the private sector. S.2805 would also provide for a Senior Real Property Officer who would oversee all real property asset management activities and would work with the respective agency's Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer, and head of human resources. The Senior Real Property Officer should be qualified through education, training, experience, and certification. A comprehensive, reliable listing of federal properties, as envisioned by S. 2805, is essential to overseeing and managing the government's large portfolio of federal assets. The bill also would amend current law to allow each agency to retain the proceeds of real property sales and deposit them into agency capital asset accounts for real property needs. The bill would also provide property managers with four new enhanced management tools: (1) interagency transfers or exchanges, (2) sales to or exchanges with nonfederal sources, (3) subleases, and (4) outleases. However, the 20-year limitation generally placed on outleases could significantly reduce the usefulness of this tool for properties that are historically significant or in economically depressed areas.
