Agencies Downgraded in PMA; OMB Sees Its Own Deadline Looming

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) downgraded five agencies on the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) real property initiative in its March 31 2007 quarterly scorecard report. Meanwhile, OMB will itself soon be pressured to perform, as it approaches a Congressionally mandated deadline to identify and value the first 100 federal properties to be disposed of as surplus.

Downgraded from Green to Yellow in the “Progress in Implementation” aspect of the PMA scorecard were the Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, Department of State and Department of Veterans Affairs.

While being downgraded in Progress in Implementation, the Department of Energy received a score of Green in “Current Status.” The Department of Labor was not only downgraded in “Progress in Implementation,” but received a scorecard ranking of Red in “Current Status.”

The PMA report can be found online at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/results/agenda/fy07q2_scorecard.pdf

According to OMB, agency Progress in Implementation is assessed on a case-by-case basis against the deliverables and timelines established for each PMA initiative. Green indicates that “implementation is proceeding according to plans agreed upon with the agencies.” Yellow suggests “some slippage or other issues requiring adjustment by the agency in order to achieve the initiative objectives on a timely basis.” Red implies that the initiative is “in serious jeopardy,” and that the agency is “unlikely to realize objectives absent significant management intervention.”

OMB itself soon will have to demonstrate its knowledgeability about federal real property, as Congress in late 2006 imposed a mid-year deadline for recommendations on the sale of 100 separate pieces of surplus government real property.

On Friday, December 15, 2006 the President signed into law H.R. 3699 (the "Federal and District of Columbia Government Real Property Act of 2006"). The legislation was intended to authorize the exchange of some 29 parcels of land between the Federal Government and the District of Columbia.

Under Section 408 of the law, no later than six months after its enactment – that is, by the end of June 2007 – Director of OMB is required to report to Congress on the total value and amount of surplus government property, both in the aggregate and totaled by agency. The report must also list the 100 most eligible surplus government properties for sale and an estimate of how much each is worth.

In addition, the Director of OMB is accountable for reporting on data sharing among federal agencies. Congress requires a report on procedures to share data on surplus Federal real property under the jurisdiction of each agency. The report must also provide an update on the development and implementation of the data sharing procedures.

In remarks made upon the signing of HR 3699, VISTA President and CEO David Baxa had been quoted as saying, “Disposal of unused property is just the tip of the iceberg. The benefit for the Federal budget lies not just in receiving fair market value on the sale of unused buildings and land, but in avoiding the expense of maintaining and operating this unnecessary real property.”

As early as 2005, in testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, OMB Deputy Director for Management Clay Johnson referenced a potential $15 billion in savings to be realized by disposing of just five percent of unneeded Federal real property.

That five percent surplus could translate into as much as an additional $15 billion per year in maintenance and operations costs, beyond the fair market value of the property. Over five years, the total savings (return on sold property and saved cost of operations and maintenance) could be as much as $90 billion.

“Of course, the requirement under this newly-approved legislation is to identify only 100 properties out of the entire surplus inventory, so the savings is a tiny fraction of what is possible,” cautioned VISTA’s Baxa. “Nonetheless, this is an encouraging step in the right direction of shedding the burden of surplus Federal real property.”