Committee approves seven GSA capital and leasing resolutions, authorizes $150 million optimization fund

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure approved seven GSA prospectuses en bloc, including three Federal Bureau of Investigation field-office leases, alterations to address fire-alarm and life-safety issues at three federal buildings, and authorization of $150 million for the General Services Administration optimization program.

Ranking Member Rick Larson said the optimization fund will “give GSA the flexibility it needs to maximize its real estate portfolio,” but cautioned that the funds must be used to reduce agency footprints and expenditures. “It is not a slush fund,” Larson said, adding the resolution requires GSA to submit a spend plan to the committee for review.

Committee members said the projects had been vetted by GSA, the Office of Management and Budget and the affected agencies, and that the lease authorizations pending since prior fiscal years reflect efforts to improve the FBI’s real-estate utilization. The committee approved the resolutions by voice vote and then recessed to permit members to return for a later recorded vote on H.R. 4275.

The approved prospectuses include lease authorities for FBI field offices in Cleveland, Charlotte and Indianapolis; life-safety upgrades at the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse in Cleveland, the Jacob Javits Federal Building Complex in New York, and the Ronald Reagan Building Complex in Washington; and authorization of funds for GSA’s optimization program to repair core assets and facilitate agency relocations and space-sharing.

Committee leadership directed GSA to submit a spend plan and said the committee would monitor use of the optimization fund.