[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 928 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 928

   To improve the cost-effectiveness of Federal property management.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                May 11 (legislative day, April 19), 1993

  Mr. Cohen (for himself and Mr. DeConcini) introduced the following 
      bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                          Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To improve the cost-effectiveness of Federal property management.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) the Federal Government owns over 400,000 buildings that 
        cost the taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars;
            (2) the Federal Government is the largest single tenant and 
        builder of office space in the United States;
            (3) the Federal Government currently has $11,400,000,000 of 
        construction in the works which, when completed, will add 
        approximately 23,000,000 square feet of office space;
            (4) the Federal Government is constructing, or entering 
        into long-term leases for buildings constructed expressly for 
        the Federal Government, in areas with building vacancy rates as 
        high as 30 percent;
            (5) significant budget savings can be achieved if, before 
        considering new construction, Federal agencies aggressively 
        explore the possibilities of purchasing or leasing suitable 
        office buildings available in the market or acquiring suitable 
        real estate under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance 
        Corporation or Resolution Trust Corporation;
            (6) the physical space requirements of Federal agencies and 
        the Judiciary are too often overstated and inflexible and, 
        therefore, do not permit the acquisition or lease of existing 
        properties which may be suitable and cost-effective;
            (7) current scorekeeping rules may be discouraging agencies 
        from entering into the most responsible arrangements for 
        securing office space (for example, in some cases, a lease/
        purchase agreement may be most cost-effective but current 
        scorekeeping rules require that the budget authority and 
        outlays for the entire obligation, paid over a period of years, 
        be scored in the year the contract is signed); and
            (8) the Federal Buildings Fund, established in 1972 as a 
        revolving fund to cover the General Services Administration's 
        cost of rent, repairs, renovations, and to pay for the 
        construction of new Federal buildings, and funded by the rent 
        agencies pay to the General Services Administration, has failed 
        to be self-sustaining and has required billions in 
        appropriations to finance new construction.

SEC. 2. COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF FEDERAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT.

    (a) In General.--The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall conduct a comprehensive review of Federal property 
management policies and procedures and make recommendations to promote 
better coordination between Government agencies, maximize efficiency, 
and encourage flexibility to make decisions which are in the best 
interest of the Federal Government.
    (b) Included in Review.--The review required by this section shall 
include--
            (1) recommendations requiring the General Services 
        Administration, the Department of Defense, the Postal Service 
        and all other Federal agencies and the Judiciary, when 
        appropriate, to develop or modify existing building 
        requirements in such a way as to allow for--
                    (A) the purchase, lease, lease/purchase of existing 
                buildings at market rates; and
                    (B) the purchase of Resolution Trust Corporation-
                owned and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-owned 
                real estate rather than new construction of buildings;
            (2) in conjunction with the Director of the Congressional 
        Budget Office, developing recommendations to revise 
        scorekeeping rules for Federal property leasing, lease/
        purchase, construction, and acquisition to encourage 
        flexibility and decisions which are in the best interest of the 
        Federal Government; and
            (3) recommendations on whether the Federal Buildings Fund 
        should be maintained, alternatives for meeting the Fund's 
        objectives, and changes to the Fund that will enable it to meet 
        its objectives and become self-sustaining.

SEC. 3. REPORT.

    Not later than two months after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall report the 
recommendations developed pursuant to this Act to--
            (1) the Senate Committees on Governmental Affairs, 
        Appropriations, and Environment and Public Works; and
            (2) the House of Representatives Committees on Government 
        Operations, Appropriations, and Public Works and 
        Transportation.

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