{
  "id": "R44377",
  "type": "CRS Report",
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  "number": "R44377",
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      "id": 587707,
      "date": "2016-07-13",
      "retrieved": "2020-01-02T15:38:53.958438",
      "title": "Disposal of Unneeded Federal Buildings: Legislative Proposals in the 114th Congress",
      "summary": "Real property disposal is the process by which federal agencies identify and then transfer, donate, or sell real property they no longer need. Disposition is an important asset management function because the costs of maintaining unneeded properties can be substantial, consuming financial resources that might be applied to long-standing real property needs, such as repairing existing facilities, or other pressing policy issues, such as reducing the national debt.\nDespite the expense, federal agencies hold thousands of unneeded and underutilized properties. Agencies have argued that they are unable to dispose of these properties for several reasons. First, there are statutorily prescribed steps in the disposal process that can take months to complete. Second, properties may not be appealing to potential buyers or lessees if they require major repairs or environmental remediation\u2014steps for which agencies lack funding to complete before bringing a property to market. Third, key stakeholders in the disposal process\u2014including local governments, non-profit organizations, and businesses\u2014are often at odds over how to dispose of properties. \nIn addition, Congress may be limited in its capacity to conduct oversight of the disposal process because it currently lacks access to reliable, comprehensive real property data. The General Services Administration (GSA) maintains a database with information on most federal buildings, but those data are provided to Congress on a limited basis. Moreover, the quality of the information in the database has been questioned, in part because of inconsistent reporting of key data elements, such as how much space within a given building is unneeded.\nFive bills have been introduced in the 114th Congress that would enact broad reforms in the real property disposal process\u2014the Civilian Property Realignment Act (CPRA, S. 1750); the Federal Asset Sale and Transfer Act (FAST Act, S. 2375); the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act (H.R. 4465); the Federal Property Management Reform Act of 2016 (Property Reform Act, S. 2509); and the Public Buildings Reform and Savings Act of 2016 (Public Buildings Act, H.R. 4487). \nUnder CPRA, agencies would develop a list of disposal recommendations, which could include the sale, transfer, conveyance, consolidation, or outlease of any unneeded space, among other options. These recommendations would be vetted by a newly established Civilian Property Realignment Commission, and then submitted to the President. If the President approved the recommendations, then they would be sent to Congress for review. If Congress passed a joint resolution of disapproval, then the recommendations would not be implemented; if a joint resolution of disapproval was not passed, then implementation would proceed. In many cases, disposal would be expedited by exempting properties on the recommendation list from certain statutory requirements, such as screening for public benefit.\nUnder the FAST Act, agency recommendations would be sent to a newly established real property board for vetting, and then submitted to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget for approval or disapproval. The FAST Act does not provide Congress with an opportunity to vote for or against the list of recommendations.\nThe Property Reform Act seeks to improve the management of federal real property by establishing additional disposal guidance, allowing agencies to retain the proceeds from the disposal of their properties, and requiring the U.S. Postal Service to increase the amount of underutilized space it leases to other federal agencies.\nThe Public Buildings Act would establish a streamlined leasing pilot program, mandate lactation rooms in many public buildings, require GSA to notify Congress of cost overruns, and require real property prospectuses to include a comparison of costs between leasing and renting space.",
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    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 449641,
      "date": "2016-02-12",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T17:10:51.651020",
      "title": "Disposal of Unneeded Federal Buildings: Legislative Proposals in the 114th Congress",
      "summary": "Real property disposal is the process by which federal agencies identify and then transfer, donate, or sell real property they no longer need. Disposition is an important asset management function because the costs of maintaining unneeded properties can be substantial, consuming financial resources that might be applied to long-standing real property needs, such as repairing existing facilities, or other pressing policy issues, such as reducing the national debt.\nDespite the expense, federal agencies hold thousands of unneeded and underutilized properties. Agencies have argued that they are unable to dispose of these properties for several reasons. First, there are statutorily prescribed steps in the disposal process that can take months to complete. Second, properties may not be appealing to potential buyers or lessees if they require major repairs or environmental remediation\u2014steps for which agencies lack funding to complete before bringing a property to market. Third, key stakeholders in the disposal process\u2014including local governments, non-profit organizations, and businesses\u2014are often at odds over how to dispose of properties. \nIn addition, Congress may be limited in its capacity to conduct oversight of the disposal process because it currently lacks access to reliable, comprehensive real property data. The General Services Administration (GSA) maintains a database with information on most federal buildings, but those data are provided to Congress on a limited basis. Moreover, the quality of the information in the database has been questioned, in part because of inconsistent reporting of key data elements, such as how much space within a given building is unneeded.\nThree bills have been introduced in the 114th Congress that would enact broad reforms in the real property disposal process\u2014the Civilian Property Realignment Act (CPRA, S. 1750); the Federal Asset Sale and Transfer Act (FAST Act, S. 2375); and the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act (H.R. 4465). Under CPRA, agencies would develop a list of disposal recommendations, which could include the sale, transfer, conveyance, consolidation, or outlease of any unneeded space, among other options. These recommendations would be vetted by a newly established Civilian Property Realignment Commission, and then submitted to the President. If the President approved the recommendations, then they would be sent to Congress for review. If Congress passed a joint resolution of disapproval, then the recommendations would not be implemented; if a joint resolution of disapproval was not passed, then implementation would proceed. In many cases, disposal would be expedited by exempting properties on the recommendation list from certain statutory requirements, such as screening for public benefit.\nUnder the FAST Act, agency recommendations would be sent to a newly established real property board for vetting, and then submitted to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget for approval or disapproval. The FAST Act does not provide Congress with an opportunity to vote for or against the list of recommendations.",
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  "topics": [
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