Beth Cobert, the Office of Management and Budget‘s deputy director for management, said the government has cut a total of 10.2 million square feet in federal office and warehouse space in the past year, Government Executive reported Monday.The efforts were part of the government’s “Freezing the Federal Footprint” initiative that aims to cut federal spending on real estate and travel, among other areas, and drive government efficiency, Charles Clark reports.
“[Agencies] are taking significant and creative steps to manage their real estate inventories by freezing growth in the portfolio, measuring the cost and utilization of real property to support more efficient use, and identifying opportunities to reduce the portfolio through asset disposal,” Cobert said.
Clark writes that the real estate reduction was drawn from an inventory with chief financial officers at 24 federal agencies, with the progress indicators and metrics to be released soon on Performance.gov.
