A Year of Progress

It's been quite a year for federal real property professionals. Many Departments have made excellent progress in complying with Executive Order 13327 and the real property initiative of the President's Management Agenda. As we prepare to usher in 2007, it will be interesting to find out whether real property will have finally found its way off the GAO high-risk list.

Outwardly, the signs are good. The professional conference of the Federal Real Property Association (FRPA), held in mid-October, saw booming attendance and sessions with helpful advice on getting to "Green." Departments affected by the PMA initiative are for the most part holding steady in their Current Status scorecard ranking. Even those that may have slipped somewhat know what it takes to improve their status. (For more information, see the article "PMA Scorecard: One Department Sees Red, Another Green")

The GSA, for its part, has been helpful in explaining how the agency can help others in the government get to "Green." At the FRPA conference, Gordon Creed, Acting Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Real Property Disposal in the GSA's Office of Real Property Asset Management, explained some of GSA's offerings. With programs such as Targeted Asset Review (TAR), Value Added Services (VAS), Asset Relocation Program and the FirstGov Portal for Federal Asset Sales (FAS), GSA is proving to be a resource for Departments looking to dispose of surplus assets. (For more information, see the article "GSA Offers Help in Getting to Green")

Of course, this progress in compliance with real property regulations should only spur us to work harder. If we pause to rest on our laurels, we risk slipping backward. Despite, or perhaps because of, the government's increased attention on real property, the issue has become somewhat more prominent in the public eye. The taxpayer advocacy group Citizens Against Government Waste has begun to track real property in commentary on its Web site and elsewhere in the media.

In a commentary titled "Federal Government Must Liquidate Surplus Property," CAGW President Tom Schatz called the current level of compliance with Executive Order 13327 "a staggering blow to taxpayers." He applauded pending legislation that would provide some incentive for further compliance - although the legislation is in limbo for the moment, because of the "lame duck" status of the politicians who introduced it this year. (For more information, see the article "Real Property in the Public Eye")

For our part at VISTA, we remain confident that the results of the mid-term elections will not create impediments to progress in federal real property asset management. To be successful, real property must be a bi-partisan issue. If it is embraced by both parties, the issue of surplus federal real property may get the funding that's required to put into action the Asset Management Plans that the affected Departments and agencies established over the past two years.

Let's hope the New Year brings us all the resources we need to put all our plans into action.


David Baxa
President and CEO
VISTA