VISTA to Contribute to General Services Administration Real Property Performance Results 2004 Publication
GSA Invitation Validates VISTA's Expertise in Real Property Asset Analysis and Executive Order 13327 Compliance
Herndon, VA (2 FEBRUARY | 2005) - The General Services Administration has invited VISTA Technology Services (VISTA) to contribute its expert opinion to "Real Property Performance Results," a publication produced annually by the GSA's Innovative Workplaces Division, Office of Real Property. VISTA, the leading provider of real property asset analysis, IT and management consulting services to government, was asked to provide the private industry perspective of Executive Order 13327 on Federal Real Property Asset Management (EO 13327), which is the theme for this year's Performance Results publication.
"We're delighted to provide our expertise to this important government document," said VISTA President and CEO David Baxa, who authored the opinion for GSA on behalf of VISTA. "Our background in real property asset analysis dates back to the first iteration of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). Our work in that initiative saved the US Army more than a billion dollars, and the same principles can be put into practice for compliance with the more broadly-based EO 13327."
Signed in February 2004 and part of the President's Management Agenda, EO 13327 tasks executive agencies in the federal government to fully and accurately disclose expenses related to maintaining real property assets as part of the true cost of administering ongoing programs. Agencies with surplus real property must create strategies for disposal or reuse of that surplus, with timelines and expected financial benefits to accrue from the disposition. The GSA and the Office of Management and Budget are providing oversight on the Executive Order.
The opinion provided by VISTA for the GSA is entitled, "Executive Order 13327: Real Estate in the Era of Full Accountability." In the article, VISTA's Baxa identifies what he calls "EO 13327 Catch-22": Budgetary cutbacks hamper agencies' ability to apply additional funding for compliance with the order, and yet failure to comply will adversely affect future agency budgets.
Baxa goes on to refute this seeming Catch-22. "Simply put, agencies must reallocate funds to meet the EO 13327 objective, or else face the possibility of losing two times over," Baxa writes, going on to provide the following explanation:
"If an agency risks spending unbudgeted dollars on compliance in FY 2005, it may not necessarily get a passing grade on the EO 13327 scorecard. But if the same agency tries to 'play it safe' and does not spend the money, it will almost certainly get two failing grades-one on EO 13327, and one on overall budget and performance integration as a government-wide initiative."
"The consequences of 'playing it safe' far outweigh the risks of reallocating funds to address this unbudgeted initiative," Baxa concludes.
In VISTA's understanding, this is the first time a government contractor has been invited to provide its perspective in the GSA's Real Property Performance Results publication.
Release of Real Property Performance Results 2004 is anticipated in late January or early February. The 2003 edition can be seen on the web at: http://www.gsa.gov/gsa/cm_attachments/GSA_DOCUMENT/perfrm03_R2NL1-q_0Z5RDZ-i34K-pR.pdf
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