Real Property Best Practices: Observations from the Front Lines

What are Departments and agencies doing correctly when it comes to incorporating real property asset management as part of their overall Federal fiscal accountability?

VISTA has been involved in reviewing the compliance processes of many Departments affected by real property asset management initiatives such as Executive Order 13327 (EO 13327) and the President's Management Agenda (PMA). Consequently, VISTA has been able to draw some conclusions about what makes certain Departments and agencies more successful than others.

The bottom line is that Departments with well-organized and accurate inventory data are typically the best able to prepare materials for review by organizations such as the GSA and OMB.

EO 13327, the PMA and other such regulatory requirements force Federal agencies to consider real property as a manageable cost and an asset, not just an expense. Departments who are most willing to adapt to that framework have been most successful.

Among the habits of the most successful organizations:

• Departments with executive support in EO 13327 compliance and the process of developing an Asset Management Plan (AMP) have been the most successful in gaining the approval of OMB and making real progress in fulfilling the spirit and intent of EO 13327.
• Senior Real Property Officers (SRPOs) who are naturally oriented towards real property management are more successful in communicating the EO objectives and AMP process within the Department. (Some SRPOs have an administrative services background and are not comfortable in the real property arena - nor do they necessarily see the potential positive impact of the EO on the Department's mission and bottom line.)
• Department real property organizations are well served to create a real property working group (RPWG), which includes key Bureau real property personnel (up to and including Bureau SRPOs). The RPWG serve as both a bridge and a buffer to and between the Departments and Bureaus.
• Because existing Departmental real property policies and procedures are not consistently applied, the Departmental RPWG is a good source for monitoring compliance and offering corrections.

Until now, the real property reporting process from each Department to GSA, and ultimately to OMB revealed in many cases portfolio inventory data of dubious quality. Fortunately, by following some of the policies detailed above, many Departments may find that subsequent reporting will show marked improvement. Establishing, refining and implementing best practice real property policies and processes during the next few years will fuel the real property cultural change contemplated by EO 13327.