Democrats attacked Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative with unusual vigor, but who can doubt that a federal behemoth which spends $7 trillion annually has ample room for downsizing? Consider one agency that bleeds millions each year, according to a recent audit.
Legislation passed in 2023 demands that federal workplaces have at least 60 percent occupancy. Agencies that fall short of the threshold are urged to consolidate space or rid themselves of buildings that are underutilized. This became even more vital in the wake of the pandemic, as remote work became popular in both the public and private sector.
Yet a report from the General Accounting Office, the nonpartisan agency that performs audits on federal agencies, reveals that the U.S. Department of Transportation has had particular difficulty meeting the standard enshrined in law. According to the GAO, more than 89 percent of the agency’s offices are below 60 percent occupancy, including the DOT and FAA headquarters.
Combined, the two headquarters “total 1.8 million square feet and have an estimated capacity of more than 12,000 employees,” Reason magazine reported, “with over $100 million in annual rental costs and nearly $25 million in annual operations costs. And yet when surveyed, each building was only about one-third full on any given day.”
The result is millions in wasted money spent on rent and facility costs. The GAO report estimates that 168 of the 189 Transportation Department buildings were underutilized, “totaling $370 million in annual rental, operations and maintenance costs.”
The Department of Transportation is not alone. According to facilitiesdive.com, the U.S. General Services Administration in 2023 managed more than “360 million square feet of space across more than 8,000 buildings. A GAO report that year concluded that “17 of 24 agencies were using only an estimated 25 percent of their headquarters buildings.”
Former Sen. Tom Carper, the Delaware Democrat who previously served as chair of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, called the report “alarming” and said the status quo was “not a sustainable or fiscally responsible way to manage our federal real estate.”
The waste extends to all 50 states. According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, the GAO has targeted the Carson City federal building for potential sale.
Many agencies have taken steps to bring remote workers back to the office, but the GAO notes that others have eschewed steps — consolidation, building sales — that would bring down their vacancy rates. This is unacceptable. Perhaps the 2023 law should be revisited to provide financial disincentives and consequences for agencies such as the Transportation Department that continue to hemorrhage taxpayer money on empty buildings and offices.
