GSA Makes it Easier to Buy Government Property

GSA #10188

October 3, 2005
Contact: Viki Reath, (202) 501-1231
viki.reath@gsa.gov

Washington, D.C. - The General Services Administration's (GSA) new Federal Asset Sales (FAS) Initiative is expected to increase revenues from the sale of billions of dollars worth of surplus, seized and forfeited property the government acquires each year, GSA announced today.

GSA expects the new FAS initiative to shorten the sales process and increase revenues from government property sales.

"The goal of the Federal Asset Sales  initiative, one of the President's Expanding E-Government Initiatives, is to create a secure, efficient and effective online marketplace for the public to find federal assets for sale," said Christopher Fornecker, GSA’s Chief Technology Officer and Project Executive for FAS. "The Office of Management and Budget determined that consolidating sales information in one location, including federal online and offline live auctions and increased advertising on the Internet would expand the buying pool and boost sales revenues."

As a result, for the first time, the Federal Asset Sales Shop Government Auctions page on FirstGov.gov contains information on all federal property sales. The page has been redesigned to make it easier to link users to numerous online and offline federal sales locations. FirstGov.gov is the federal government’s official Web portal.

The new Federal Asset Sales initiative also is expected to:

• Cut agency sales costs, by leveraging existing online and offline marketplaces and other economies of scale.
• Ensure fair market prices, by expanding the potential buyer pool to increase competition.
• Help agencies identify effective, efficient online and offline sales channels, through value-added services.
• Increase federal advertising to qualified buyers.
• Guides agencies and prospective buyers to other live auctions.

FAS will continue to work to make the sale of federal property as efficient and effective as possible. The continuing goal is to ensure maximum responsiveness to the citizen, private business, and Federal Government agencies in buying and selling the Government's property. Information on the Federal Asset Sales initiative is available at http://www.firstgov.gov/shopping/shopping.shtml.

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GSA is a centralized, federal procurement, property management, policy development and information provision agency, created by Congress to improve government efficiency and help federal agencies better serve the public.  In this role, GSA acquires products and services on behalf of federal agencies; plays a key role in developing and implementing government-wide policies; provides services and solutions for the office operations of more than one million federal workers; and encourages a citizen-centric relationship with government by providing a single "point of entry" to the information and services citizens need in a timeframe they can appreciate.  This allows citizens to receive accurate, timely and consistent answers and information, and helps federal agencies better respond to citizen inquiries.