PRESS RELEASE#98-15 9/10/98 CONTACT: Richard Maulsby (703/305-8445) Brigid Quinn (703/308-7427) NATIONAL TAXPAYERS UNION CAMPAIGN AGAINST PTO COULD COST AMERICANS $72 MILLION The National Taxpayers Union's eye-catching but misleading dispatch alleging government waste in the General Services Administration's (GSA) competitive space procurement for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is an ill-advised effort to stop the project and could cost taxpayers $72 million. It is always easy to paint Washington bureaucrats as profligate with taxpayer's money, but in this case, while it may make good copy, it is complete fiction and NTU knows it. In fact, NTU has been informed repeatedly by PTO that its attacks are based on misinformation, but NTU has refused to change its story or even sit down with representatives from PTO to discuss this project In 1995 Congress mandated GSA to competitively procure a 20-year lease within specific boundaries in Northern Virginia to replace expiring leases for cramped and outdated space PTO has occupied in Crystal City since the mid-1960s. There is good reason that Congress chose to continue to house the PTO in leased space. The last large federal office construction was the Ronald Reagan building which was authorized by Congress in 1987. This was well before a balanced budget and looming shortfalls in programs such as Social Security and Medicare became front-burner issues on the national agenda. Given the way federal construction/purchase is calculated, Congress is unlikely to authorize spending hundreds of millions of dollars in any one year to build or buy the 2 million square feet of space needed for the PTO, as opponents claim should be done. In mandating a long-term lease for the PTO, Congress certainly did not ignore cost, or give GSA or PTO a blank check. In addition to the obvious advantages of competition, Congress also capped what could be spent on rent and moving expenses. All costs associated with the project, including environmental clean up, if necessary, and all build-out, are included under the rent and moving expense caps. There will be no surprises or extravagant spending! 1 of 2(Page 2)