With more and more agencies bringing employees back to the office on a full-time basis, the General Services Administration is offering help to overcome shortfalls in office space.
GSA’s new shared space program, called Space Match, aims to help agencies share office space by connecting those who need workspace with those who have extra seats available.
The new initiative, which quietly launched in February, is helping to meet the increase occupancy rates required by the Office of Management and Budget and Congress.
The most recent data from Kastle Systems, which tracks card swipes, shows the office utilization rate for Washington, D.C. is 60.7% for all public and private sector companies. The rate for the top 10 metro areas is 60.8%.
GSA didn’t have data specific to federal agency office utilization rates.
GSA says Space Match will help identify underutilized space for agencies in need of extra office space. Additionally, Space Match will help agencies reduce rent costs by having others fill the underutilized space.
Air Force tested office space platform
The Air Force led a pilot to try out Space Match starting in October and the site officially launched Feb. 18.
“This program supports the shift from agency-specific space to governmentwide utilization standards,” said Ryan Brill, design lead at the Air Force, in a statement. “Unlike traditional procurement, Space Match eliminates costly buildouts, redesigns, and long processes. As more federal employees return to the office, it helps agencies make the most of their existing real estate.”
GSA says other agencies, such as the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), already are exploring Space Match’s potential to create more flexible and efficient real estate portfolios.
The need for a platform to help agencies find underutilized office space comes as the government accelerates its effort to consolidate and eliminate building leases while also bringing employees back to the office. The big increase will come when most agencies bring bargaining unit employees back to the office five-days a week, if it didn’t already happen.
OMB’s August 2024 memo requested the 24 largest federal agencies provide an update on efforts to reduce their office space portfolio, and provide more details on what steps it’s taking to make better use of their buildings.
GSA, the government’s landlord, said it reduced the federal footprint by more than 2 million square feet over the past 10 years, avoiding more than $300 million in operating and maintenance costs.
Federal buildings on chopping block
Most recently, GSA and its partners at the U.S. DOGE Service have been on an aggressive campaign to cancel leases. Michael Peters, the commissioner of the Public Buildings Service, is calling for a 50% reduction of federal building space — both owned and leased.
Last week, GSA predicted it would terminate about 1,000 federal real estate leases across the country.
Concerns about whether agencies will have enough space for employees returning to the office full time are real. At a meeting of the Public Buildings Reform Board in January, Peters acknowledged this potential problem.
“That’s the $64,000 question, right? It’s how many people are coming back, and when are they coming back,” Peters said on Jan. 28. “Comprehensive assessment is underway, not just here in the district, but really across the nation to understand where we have deficiencies or where we expect to have deficiencies, and to ascertain how to address them. We don’t have a firm kind of guidance at this point in time, but we recognize that there is a potential problem.”
A Federal News Network online survey of its audience found about 66% of more than 4,600 respondents are “extremely concerned” or “very concerned” about their agency not having enough office space for employees when they return to the office full-time.
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