About GSA
U.S. General Services Administration
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) was established by President Harry Truman on July 1, 1949, to streamline the administrative work of the federal government. GSA consolidated the National Archives Establishment, the Federal Works Agency, and the Public Buildings Administration; the Bureau of Federal Supply and the Office of Contract Settlement; and the War Assets Administration into one federal agency tasked with administering supplies and providing workplaces for federal employees.
GSA’s original mission was to dispose of war surplus goods, manage and store government records, handle emergency preparedness, and stockpile strategic supplies for wartime. GSA also regulated the sale of various office supplies to federal agencies and managed some unusual operations, such as hemp plantations in South America.
Today, through its two largest offices – the Public Buildings Service and the Federal Acquisition Service – and various staff offices, GSA provides workspace to more than 1 million federal civilian workers, oversees the preservation of more than 480 historic buildings, and facilitates the federal government’s purchase of high-quality, low-cost goods and services from quality commercial vendors.
Learn more at gsa.gov/thisisgsa
The Presidential Transition Directory
The U.S. General Services Administration launched the 2016 Presidential Transition Directory on November 5, 2015. The website is designed to help candidates in the 2016 Presidential election get quick and easy access to key resources about the federal government structure and key policies related to Presidential Transition. The creation of the Presidential Transition Directory is mandated by the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, as amended.
Connecting resources from the Government Printing Office, Office of Personnel Management, National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. Office of Government Ethics and others, the site will also help future political appointees better understand key aspects of their roles and some of the key policies and aspects of federal service. Additionally, the Directory will be connecting to not-for-profit resources about Presidential Transition to help acquaint potential appointees with the types of problems and challenges that most typically confront new political appointees when they make the transition from prior activities to assuming the responsibility for governance.
The Directory will be continuously updated as new information becomes available to help ensure candidates and their staffs have access to the best information possible as they begin their planning to establish the next management of the Executive Branch of the federal government.
Contact Us
For more information about GSA’s Presidential Transition activities please contact presidentialtransitionteam@gsa.gov. Please note, a separate email address established by the Office of the President-elect serves as the primary resource for any correspondence associated with the President-elect.