New Focus on Real Property Management Will Re-invent
Federal Government from the Ground Up
Industry Experts Agree that Executive Order and Defense Transformation Initiative
Demand Comprehensive Facilities Infrastructure Analysis
Herndon, VA (12 MARCH | 2004) - President George W. Bush's February 4, 2004 Executive Order 13327 on Federal Real Property Asset Management demonstrates a growing trend in the government to enhance operational efficiency and save money by comprehensively evaluating their real property holdings - what's known by industry experts as "facilities infrastructure analysis."
The Executive Order calls for the heads of all executive branch departments and agencies to designate Senior Real Property Officers and creates a new Federal Real Property Council. It comes less than 18 months after Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld explained the need for the latest round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), calling for a reconfiguration of the Defense Department's "current infrastructure into one in which operational capacity maximizes both warfighting capability and efficiency" (see www.defenselink.mil/brac). The 2005 BRAC will be the first to involve the entire Defense Department as part of the ongoing push toward Defense Transformation.
"Analysis of federal facilities and infrastructure, including buildings, is a key first step to mirror effective and efficient facility and property management techniques employed in the private sector," said Ron Burton, Vice President, Advocacy and Research for BOMA International, a leading association serving the commercial real estate industry. "The private sector has long looked to its facilities and infrastructure to increase efficiency and reap cost savings, and the Federal Government should move quickly to enhance the ability of federal property managers to employ proven and effective management tools employed by private sector real estate professionals."
Facilities infrastructure analysis also can be a springboard to deal with general issues of responsible government spending and debt management. In fact, it has already saved the Army nearly $1 billion.
"Facilities infrastructure analysis is absolutely critical to the government or any other enterprise," said David Yentzer, former Director of Installation Planning Division, Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management, Headquarters, Department of the Army. Mr. Yentzer was responsible for overseeing planning and utilization of the Army's worldwide real property inventory in previous iterations of BRAC.
"Through intelligent facilities infrastructure analysis in support of previous BRAC rounds in the 1990s, the U.S. Army was able to identify areas for consolidation and re-purposing of current holdings that eliminated construction needs and reduced a $1.8 billion construction program to approximately $800 million," said Yentzer. "The Army never had any excess facilities construction during any BRAC round. The other services could not say the same," he added.
The President's Executive Order expands the Federal Government's focus on real property management beyond the Defense Department and into the government-wide plan to re-invent how, and where, government works.
"It is obvious that the Administration hopes an in depth analysis of its facilities (buildings and other structures) and related infrastructure (runways, hardstands, ranges, utilities, roadways, etc.) will lead to a more efficient and economical use of America's real property assets, and possibly generate added revenue," said VISTA President and CEO David Baxa. "A properly executed facilities infrastructure analysis ensures that the physical aspects of an operation are appropriate to its scope; identifying areas of possible consolidation to maximize resources."
The government's growing interest in facilities infrastructure analysis has resulted in a record number of organizations coming to VISTA specifically to begin data collection and authentication and certification for the upcoming round of BRAC. In January, VISTA announced contracts with seven separate Defense-related organizations, including:
- Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Infrastructure Analysis [DASA (IA)]
- Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA)
- Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
- Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS)
- Defense Supply Center (DSC), Philadelphia
- Missile Defense Agency (MDA)
- Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)
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