Today, House Republicans are bringing to the floor the Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies (USE IT) Act of 2023, introduced by Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA). This bill directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA) to establish standard methodologies to measure occupancy in public buildings and federally leased space.
This bill, also requires GSA and OMB to take steps to reduce or consolidate space if utilization rates fall below 60 percent, and requires GSA and OMB to submit a report to Congress that includes a plan to consolidate department and agency headquarters in the National Capital Region that will result in building utilization rates of 60 percent or more.
FACTS ABOUT THE USE IT ACT OF 2023 (Courtesy of the House Committee on Transportation): Purpose:
As federal office space utilization averages 25 percent or less for most major agencies, H.R. 6276 sets space occupancy standards to incentivize Federal workers to return to the office or lose space.
Summary:
In 2023, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that on average, 17 of the 24 Chief Financial Officer (CFO) agency headquarters were at 25 percent or less utilization. GAO also found the headquarters buildings for certain agencies, including GSA, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of Personnel Management, the Small Business Administration, and the Social Security Administration were as low as a nine percent space utilization.
H.R. 6276 requires the heads of Federal agencies to submit a report to Congress that includes the actual utilization rate of each building in the agencies’ portfolios, along with the methodology for calculating that rate.
The bill requires the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to ensure that no building utilization rate falls below 60 percent and, if it does, take steps to reduce or consolidate that space.
Under the bill, GSA’s Capital Investment Program must prioritize projects in public buildings where actual utilization is higher than 60 percent. Furthermore, GSA must identify technology to help measure usage of Federal building space.
H.R. 6276 requires GSA and OMB to submit a report to Congress that includes a plan to consolidate department and agency headquarters in the National Capital Region leading to building utilizations of 60 percent or more.
H.R. 6276 was introduced on November 7, 2023, by Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA-10). It was ordered favorably reported out of the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure, as amended, by a recorded vote of 35 yeas to 26 nays, on December 6, 2023.
