Can't Beat GSA Leasing - Message from the Administrator

May 24, 1996

At last Friday's Leadership Council meeting, GSA senior managers came together for a full day of discussions to find ways to incorporate more efficient and competitive methods in the Public Buildings Service leasing program. We concluded that on Independence Day, GSA will launch a program called CAN'T BEAT GSA LEASING to overhaul the $2.3 billion leasing program.

Our goal in doing this is to improve GSA's responsiveness to its federal government clients, reduce the time it takes to identify and lease privately-owned real estate, and to capture increased savings on lease costs. We will do it by freeing PBS employees from cumbersome procedures, complicated forms, duplicative management reviews, and by expanding the use of new lease negotiation practices initiated in 1994 that have saved over $300-million in long-term federal leasing costs. In addition, we will build on the skills and creativity of our long-time leasing experts. In short, we will create a leasing program that is "user-friendly" for PBS employees, client agencies, and private sector suppliers.

To help move the intiative forward, PBS Commissioner Bob Peck said that following the July 4th Holiday, all GSA leasing personnel across the nation will suspend business as usual to be retrained on the new streamlined federal leasing process.

Senior managers from other Services and Staff Offices, many of whom have had to reinvent their programs in prior years, are firmly committed to helping PBS employees and making CAN'T BEAT GSA LEASING a success.

Later today, we will issue the news release that follows to announce our initiative. I wanted to make sure that we informed you first. You will get more details about the intiative as we proceed.