Statement of Thurman Davis, Sr., Acting Administrator, General Services Administration

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee. My name is Thurman Davis and I am the Acting Administrator, U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). I am accompanied by William Jenkins, Acting Deputy Administrator for the Public Buildings Service of GSA. I am pleased to appear before you today to provide information on the President’s Fiscal Year 2002 Budget request for the Federal Buildings program.

The Public Buildings Service manages space in approximately 8,300 buildings. Over 1,800 are government-owned and 6,500 are leased from the private sector. More than 400 of the Government’s properties have historic significance based on their age, building type, architectural style, or involvement in culturally significant events. PBS customers include all Federal departments, independent agencies and commissions, the Judiciary, and Members of Congress.

Our Capital Investment and Leasing Program plays a key role in providing the necessary resources to maintain current real property assets and acquire new or replacement assets. The capital program supports several portfolio objectives:

· Maximizing Federal Buildings Fund (FBF) income;

· Minimizing the drain of unproductive assets;

· Preserving the historical and cultural assets placed in GSA’s trust; and

· Managing other diverse responsibilities integral to the management of the nation’s largest real estate portfolio.

All proposed projects are evaluated in the context of the entire national portfolio. We consider three options when evaluating our client agency requirements. These include the construction and acquisition of new facilities, repair and alteration of existing facilities, or leasing space from the private sector.

REPAIR AND ALTERATION

Our first capital program priority is the repair and alteration of our existing inventory to ensure that its value and condition does not decline. More than 43% of our owned buildings are over 50 years old and 51% are between the ages of 21 to 50 years old.

We are requesting a Repairs and Alterations program of $826.7 million for an increased emphasis on the overall maintenance and viability of our assets.

The highlights of GSA’s Fiscal Year 2002 Program include:

· $370,000,000 for the Basic Program;

· $400,781,000 for the construction phase of the Modernization/Alterations Program;

· $6,650,000 for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Modernization; and

· $15,588,000 for the Removal of PCB.

The facilities under PBS’s stewardship have a functional replacement value of $33 billion, and the repair and upgrade of these facilities is our top priority.

To allocate the limited resources of the Federal Buildings Fund for Repairs and Alterations projects, we evaluate and rank our proposals based on the following criteria: 1) Economic Justification, 2) Project Timing and Execution, 3) Physical Urgency, 4) Client/Agency Needs and 5) Historical Significance. PBS applies these criteria while:

· Protecting the safety and health of tenants in owned and leased assets;

· Altering vacant space in owned assets to relocate client agencies from leased space into Government-owned space when available; and

· Completing planned phased modernization projects (follow-on phases of multi-phased projects).

When evaluating repair and alteration projects, we also closely examine proposed project scopes to ensure that they meet client agency requirements and facility needs. We work to determine if any possible changes in project scope can be made to realize cost savings, without jeopardizing the project’s goals. Refining project scopes may free up additional funding for more projects.

By applying these criteria to our decision-making process, we prioritize our major repair and alteration projects and ensure that the most important ones in our national portfolio are funded.

NEW CONSTRUCTION

We are requesting a Construction and Acquisition of Facilities program of $663 million.

The highlights of GSA’s Fiscal Year 2002 Program include:

· $216,803,000 for 12 Federal Judiciary projects;

· $276,400,000 advance appropriation approved in the FY2001 Appropriation Act for four Federal Judiciary projects;

· $17,339,000 for design and construction of six border stations;

· $9,060,000 for the design of the FDA Consolidation, Montgomery County, Maryland;

· $5,000,000 for the Southeast Federal Center remediation site in Washington, DC;

· $6,268,000 for the site and design of a Federal Bureau of Investigation in Houston, TX;

· $34,083,000 for the construction of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration II facility in Suitland, MD;

· $4,617,000 for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations;

· $2,813,000 for the U.S. Census Bureau in Suitland, MD;

· $5,900,000 for non-prospectus construction projects; and

· $84,406,000 for repayment to the Judgement Fund.

We recommend new construction where it will meet the new housing needs of a specific Federal agency or to consolidate several dispersed agencies with economically feasible long-term needs in a given locality. PBS traditionally pursues a construction and ownership solution for special purpose and unique facilities (such as border stations and courthouses) which are not readily available in the real estate market. Our construction request includes funding for site acquisition, design construction and management and inspection cost of Federal facilities.

That concludes my prepared statement, Mr. Chairman, and I will be pleased to answer any questions.