Over the past decade, successive Congresses and administrations have undertaken efforts to address the challenges facing federal real property asset management. Attempts at legislative reform include:

• S. 2805 - "Federal Property Asset Management Reform Act of 2000"
• S. 1612 - "Freedom to Manage Act of 2001"
• H.R. 3947 - "Federal Real Property Asset Management Reform Act of 2002"
• H.R. 2548 - "Federal Real Property Asset Management Reform Act of 2003"
• H.R. 2573 - "Public Private Partnership Act of 2003"
• H.R. 3134 - "Federal Real Property Disposal Pilot Program and Management Improvement Act of 2005"

These legislative initiatives represent the most sweeping attempt to achieve effective federal property reform and were written to amend the "Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949." However, there has been little success at real property management reform through legislative efforts primarily due to Congressional Budget Office scoring rules. As a result, none of these bills were enacted in their respective Congresses.

In 2003, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued three reports which discuss the current state of, and necessary improvements to, federal real property asset management.

1. "High Risk Series: Federal Real Property" (GAO-03-122) - identified Federal real property as a high-risk area. The report stated ". . . long-standing problems in the Federal real property area include excess and underutilized property, deteriorating facilities, unreliable real property data, and costly space."
2. "Strategic Human Capital Management" (GAO-03-120) - identified the challenges of a declining Federal workforce and the need to provide cost-effective and flexible work environments. The report discussed the connection between cost-effective, high-performance workplaces enabling a dynamic, results-oriented workforce.
3. "Federal Real Property: Actions Needed to Address Long-standing and Complex Problems" (GAO-04-119T) - testified that federal real property is in an alarming state of deterioration, with a significant repair, restoration, and maintenance backlog. It concluded that key decision makers lack the data required for strategic real property asset management.

In February 2004, the President signed Executive Order (EO) 13327, "Federal Real Property Asset Management". and established a Federal Real Property Council (FRPC) chaired by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to develop guidance, collect best practices, and help senior Real Property officers improve management of real property assets.

In December 2004, the FRPC issued "Guidance for Improved Asset Management", which established ten government-wide strategic objectives for improving agency asset management. Agencies must ensure all real property initiatives are consistent with the following FPRC Guiding Principles:

1. Support agency missions and strategic goals
2. Use public and commercial benchmarks and best practices
3. Employ life-cycle cost benefit analysis
4. Promote full and appropriate utilization
5. Dispose of unneeded assets
6. Provide appropriate levels of investment
7. Accurately inventory and describe all assets
8. Employ balanced performance measures
9. Advance customer satisfaction
10. Provide for safe, secure, and healthy workplaces

Learn more about the FRPC guidance issued in December 2004.

The Federal Real Property Council (FRPC) directed each agency to draft an asset management plan. The plan must address the ten FRPC Guiding Principles and other required components, such as:

• agency specific-owner objectives
• prioritized operations
• maintenance costs
• capital investment plans
• periodic evaluation of assets

The FRPC's Asset Management Plan Committee prepared a shelf document, containing a template that agencies could customize to create unique asset management plans. The first round of agency asset management plans were submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval and review in December 2005.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) added real property to the President's Management Agenda Executive Branch Management Scorecard to track agencies' performance against the established governmentwide initiatives. The grading system scores agencies in two categories on a quarterly basis:

1. Overall status in meeting the scorecard standards for success; and
2. Agency's effort, or progress, in working towards the deliverables and timelines established for the initiative.

Agencies receive scores of: green for success, yellow for mixed results, or red for unsatisfactory. To learn more about the Executive Branch Management Scorecard, scorecard standards for success, the agencies' scores, and how the system works, visit Results.gov

In July 2005, Representative Tom Davis, Chair of the House Committee on Government Reform, introduced HR 3134 - "Federal Real Property Disposal Pilot Program and Management Improvement Act of 2005". The intent of this legislation is to expedite the sale of unneeded or underutilized Federal real property.

The bill proposed a five-year pilot disposal program in which "real property that is excess, surplus, underperforming, or not otherwise meeting federal government needs shall be disposed of" expeditiously. Eighty percent of the sale proceeds would go directly to the Department of the Treasury with the remaining 20 percent dispersed between the affected executive agency and the local taxing jurisdiction. The bill also would codify portions of EO 13327 and create a real property pilot program fund that GSA would manage in consultation with the Federal Real Property Council (FRPC). The House Committee on Government Reform approved HR 3134, as amended, at an October 2005 Committee markup.

Although the Administration is fully supportive of this legislation's intent to improve real property asset management, a slightly revised version of HR 3134 was included in the President's 2007 budget request submitted to Congress on February 6, 2006. The Administration's proposal further streamlines the authorities proposed by HR 3134 and would provide agencies an opportunity to better demonstrate the need for permanent disposition authorities. The primary difference is that the Administration's proposal permits agencies to retain 20 percent of the net proceeds of sale from properties that an agency disposes of through the pilot program. The remaining 80 percent would be deposited into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts.