Summary: The General Services Administration (GSA) was responsible for the basic structure and exterior finish of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board Building, and the Bank Board assumed responsibility for interior finishing. GSA obligated about $40.9 million for site acquisition, design, management inspection, and construction; construction costs exclusive of site acquisition were $33,180,294. Total estimated project costs for interior and exterior costs were about $51.8 million. The Board's loss from the disposition of furniture and equipment in its old building cannot be determinated. There is a question as to whether the Bank Board and other agencies are authorized to lease space based solely on their authority to control and manage real property, and a related question concerns whether the Bank Board has authority to construct a building larger than its needs solely for the purpose of providing lease space for commercial users. As of July 1978, six leases accounted for about 82 percent of the available ground floor space available for leasing. The Bank Board agreed to finance 75 percent of the costs to prepare a restaurant-cafeteria facility up to $768,000 and to pay all utilities except telephone service. The Board decided it wanted a French restaurant, effectively eliminating all but 1 of approximately 40 parties interested in a food concession. Although it has already incurred nearly two-thirds of its total share of the budgeted costs of the restaurant, the Board had not exercised its right to audit the books of the food concessionaire.
