Using private brokers hasn't worked as planned. Can the GSA get it right this time?

It just hasn't lived up to expectations.

That is the consensus opinion of real estate experts concerning the General Services Administration's National Broker Contract, a practice of using private brokers to get a better deal on leased space for the federal government than the GSA's own in-house staffers could.

Sources told me for my story in May that, while providing extra bodies to an overburdened federal agency charged with negotiating millions of square feet in real estate deals, the NBC has failed in many accounts because the GSA's framework has not allowed those private brokers to use their expertise and market knowledge to the same advantage that private companies do.

As the final days of the current contract draw to a close, the GSA is getting ready to launch NBC 3.0, or as the agency is rebranding it, GSA Leasing Support Services, or GLS. The GSA is still working through the timeline for when it will open competition for GLS, but a newly redesigned website indicates the agency realizes its prior efforts haven't turned out to be all that they could or should be.

Representatives from the GSA declined to comment in advance of the solicitation being made public, but a teaser on the GLS website promises the program "will not replicate, but improve upon the previous contracts, by incorporating new, innovative approaches and strategies and applying lessons learned."

The NBC has been the subject of numerous audits by the Government Accountability Office and the GSA's own inspector general, and uniformly those reports have concluded the GSA cannot show that NBC brokers are getting a better deal for the federal government than the GSA's own contracting officers. The GSA's GLS website notes the new iteration has been designed based on GSA leasing and acquisition personnel and industry partners, both groups that have given feedback to the GAO and IG in the past. The site goes on to say that throughout the development of GLS, "the focus has remained on enhancing the services and competition while providing greater flexibility."

Daniel J. Sernovitz covers commercial real estate.