Leaders at the General Services Administration’s real estate shop are looking to reduce their total headcount by more than half, according to an email sent to staff.
According to an email sent by Assistant Commissioner for Facilities Management Andrew Heller, received by Federal News Network, GSA’s Public Buildings Service is looking to eliminate 3,557 positions through a nonvoluntary Reduction in Force (RIF) — about 63% of its total workforce.
“Personnel cuts should be phased to ensure assets can be disposed, agencies can Return to the Office and space is Optimized,” Heller wrote in the email.
Heller told employees that PBS is pursuing such large workforce cuts because “meaningful consolidation of space will occur and require less support,” and is considering “reduced service levels for owned buildings.”
PBS Commissioner Michael Peters said GSA is looking to cut its total real estate portfolio by 50%. GSA, more broadly, is looking at similar cuts to its spending and personnel.
Heller also wrote that “GSA will introduce new technology, including AI, to improve efficiencies in the lease, acquisition and project management functions.”
A GSA spokesperson told Federal News Network that “GSA does not comment on internal personnel matters.”
Federal News Network reported Tuesday that approximately 725 PBS employees took the Office of Personnel Management’s “deferred resignation” offer — a nearly 13% reduction of its headcount. PBS accounts for about 40% of GSA’s total workforce.
GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian told staff in an email on Monday that the first phase of GSA employees who took the deferred resignation offer have been placed on administrative leave “to begin their next chapter.”
In an executive order signed Wednesday, President Donald Trump directed agency heads to take further steps to reduce federal office space.
The executive order gives agencies seven days to update GSA’s Federal Real Property Profile with a “complete and accurate inventory of real property subject to the agency’s administration.”
Agencies have 30 days under the executive order to identify all termination rights they have for leased and government-owned office space, and work with GSA and their Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team to “determine whether to exercise such rights.”
The executive order gives agencies 60 days to submit a plan to the Office of Management on the disposal of government-owned real estate “which has been deemed by the agency as no longer needed.”
Multiple administrations have focused on reducing the federal government’s footprint. GSA leaders under the Biden administration accelerated plans to offload office space that agencies no longer needed.
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