General Services Administration

General Services Administration
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Agency overview
Formed	July 1, 1949
Headquarters	General Services Administration Building 1800 F Street NW Washington, D.C.
Employees	12,554 (2010)[1]
Annual budget	$20.9 billion
Agency executives	Dan Tangherlini[2], Administrator of General Services (acting) Susan F. Brita, Deputy Administrator Thomas Sharpe, FAS Commissioner (acting) Dorothy Robyn, PBS Commissioner
Child agencies	Public Buildings Service Federal Acquisition Service Office of the Inspector General Civilian Board of Contract Appeals Staff Offices (12)
Website
www.gsa.gov

The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. government offices, provides transportation and office space to federal employees, and develops government-wide cost-minimizing policies, and other management tasks.^[3]

GSA employs about 12,000 federal workers and has an annual operating budget of roughly $26.3 billion. GSA oversees $66 billion of procurement annually. It contributes to the management of about $500 billion in U.S. federal property, divided chiefly among 8,300 owned and leased buildings and a 210,000 vehicle motor pool. Among the real estate assets managed by the GSA are the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC, the largest U.S. Federal building after The Pentagon and the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center which had previously been the Battle Creek Sanitarium run by John Harvey Kellogg.

GSA's business lines include the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS)^[4] and the Public Buildings Service (PBS). Other divisions include the Office of Governmentwide Policy, and various Staff Offices, including the Office of Small Business Utilization, the Office of Civil Rights, and the Office of Citizen Services and Communications. The official U.S. government web portal, USA.gov, and the Spanish-language web portal to U.S. government services, GobiernoUSA.gov, are members of the Office of Citizen Services and Communication’s family of websites, which also includes pueblo.gsa.gov (the Federal Citizen Information Center), Kids.gov, ConsumerAction.gov, and WebContent.gov.

History

In 1947 President Harry Truman asked former President Herbert Hoover to lead what became known as the Hoover Commission to make recommendations to reorganize the operations of the federal government. One of the recommendations of the commission was the establishment of an "Office of the General Services." This proposed office would combine the responsibilities of the U.S. Treasury Department's Bureau of Federal Supply and Office of Contract Settlement, the National Archives and Records Administration Establishment, the Federal Work Agency, and the War Assets Administration. GSA became an independent agency on July 1, 1949, after the passage of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act. General Jess Larson, Administrator of the War Assets Administration, was named GSA's first Administrator.

The first job awaiting Administrator Larson and the newly formed GSA was a complete renovation of the White House. The structure had fallen into such a state of disrepair by 1949 that one inspector of the time said the historic structure was standing “purely from habit.” Larson later explained the nature of the total renovation in depth by saying, “In order to make the White House structurally sound, it was necessary to completely dismantle, and I mean completely dismantle, everything from the White House except the four walls, which were constructed of stone. Everything, except the four walls without a roof, was finally stripped down, and that's where the work started.” GSA worked closely with President Truman and First Lady Bess Truman to ensure that the new agency's first major project would be a success. GSA completed the renovation in 1952.^[5] GSA headquarters, located at Eighteenth and F Sts. NW, was U.S. General Services Administration Building listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 as Interior Department Offices.^[6]

In July 1991, GSA contractors began the excavation of what is now the Ted Weiss Federal Building in New York City. The planning for that building did not take into account the possibility of encountering the historic cemetery for colonial-era African New Yorkers that was located beneath the footprint of the $276-million-dollar office building. When initial excavation disturbed burials, destroying skeletons and artifacts, GSA sent archaeologists to excavate—but hid their findings from the public. Revelation of the discoveries led to 18 months of activism by African-descendant community members, public officials, academics, and concerned citizens. Ultimately, GSA made public amends by funding extensive scientific research under the auspices of Dr. Michael Blakey; creating a new subagency, the Office of Public Education and Interpretation; truncating the building plan; and funding public reports on the story of the African Burial Ground. The efforts led to the creation of a new unit of the National Park Service, The African Burial Ground National Monument, at the facility. GSA fully funded that portion of the National Park Service^[7] until 2010, when GSA's formal involvement with the African Burial Ground ceased.^[8]

On April 3, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Martha N. Johnson to serve as the GSA Administrator. After a 9-month delay, the United States Senate confirmed her nomination on February 4, 2010. On April 2, 2012, Johnson resigned after a management-deficiency report by the inspector general ^[9] was publicized that detailed improper payments for a 2010 "Western Regions" training conference put on by the Public Buildings Service in Las Vegas. It stated that PBS Regions 7, 8, 9, and 10 (covering the western half of the United States) had been holding WRCs since the early 1990s. Before turning in her own resignation, Johnson fired two other GSA senior executives, PBS head Robert Peck and senior advisor Stephen Leeds. Four PBS Regional Commissioners, who had been responsible for planning the conference, were placed on administrative leave. The conference had been the most recent in a series of similar lavish conferences organized by regions of GSA's Public Buildings Service. In previous years, Western Regions conferences had been in New Orleans, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, and Lake Tahoe (where Caesars Hotel provided lakefront views, a lagoon-style indoor swimming pool, and a 24-hour casino). U.S. Representative John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, called for a congressional investigation into the misuse of federal money by GSA.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Organization

Acting GSA administrator Dan Tangherlini

Services and agencies

GSA consists of two major services: the Public Buildings Service (PBS) and the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). PBS acquires and manages thousands of federal properties. FAS provides comprehensive solutions for products and services across the government at the best value possible.^[14] In addition to the two major services, the agency also includes twelve staff offices and the independent Office of the Inspector General and Civilian Board of Contract Appeals. The Administrator of General Services is the chief executive of the agency. Daniel Tangherlini was named as acting administrator on April 2, 2012.^[15]

GSA reorganized in 2005 to merge the Federal Supply Service (FSS) and Federal Technology Service (FTS) business lines into the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS).^[16]

The National Archives and Records Administration was part of GSA until it was made an independent agency in 1985. The Federal Protective Service was also part of GSA until it was moved to the Department of Homeland Security in 2003.

Regions

GSA conducts its business activities through 11 offices (known as GSA Regions) throughout the United States, located in: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Ft. Worth, Kansas City, Missouri, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle (Auburn), and Washington, D.C.

GSA also provides specific services out of the Central Office for nationwide programs (e.g., Federal Systems Integration and Management Center (FEDSIM)).

Responsibilities

Procurement and the GSA Schedule

GSA assists with procurement work for other government agencies. As part of this effort, it maintains the large GSA Schedules, which other agencies can use to buy goods and services. The GSA Schedule can be thought of as a collection of pre-negotiated contracts.^[17] Procurement managers from government agencies can view these agreements and make purchases from the GSA Schedule knowing that all legal obligations have been taken care of by GSA.

The GSA Schedule is awarded as a prime contract entered into by the federal government and a vendor that has submitted an acceptable proposal. At the core of the GSA Schedule contract lie two key concepts: 1) Basis of Award customer or group of customers and 2) Price Reduction Clause. The two concepts are applied in concert to achieve the government's pricing objectives for the GSA Schedule program. Namely, the government wants to ensure that when the vendor experiences competitive pressures to reduce its pricing, then the government can benefit from these and be extended reduced pricing as well.^[18]

The Basis of Award customer or group of customers represents the customer or group of customers whose sales are effected on the same terms and conditions as those with GSA, and whose pricing is used: 1) as the baseline during negotiations to establish discounts offered to GSA, and 2) as a price floor that, when breached, constitutes additional discounting that triggers the Price Reduction Clause.

The Price Reduction Clause ensures that vendor discounting practices and GSA Schedule prices maintain a fixed relationship. The vendor specifies in its GSA proposal, and during negotiations of GSA Schedule contract prices, the discounts to be given to Basis of Award customer(s). If the vendor then provides a larger discount to a Basis of Award customer than what was agreed upon in the GSA Schedule contract (i.e., if the price floor is breached), then the vendor's GSA price will be reduced proportionately and retroactively.^[19]

Effective Price Reduction Clause compliance procedures will protect vendors if their discounting practices are fully and accurately disclosed in their original proposals to GSA and then are used as a basis for compliance over the term of the contract. Although not ideal, a compliance system implemented after a contract has been awarded can bring a contract into compliance, although sometimes at the expense of profits. If implementing a system in the middle of a contract period, inaccuracies that turn up should be corrected immediately, and the GSA contracting officer should be made aware of them. Price Reduction Clause compliance systems and procedures can range from the simple to the complex. A simple, manual system would be appropriate for a service contractor with standard labor rates that are not discounted. A complex system would be required for a reseller with thousands of products and discounting policies that differ among product groups.

Federal property and buildings

Thoughtful analysis to balance GSA preservation, cost, and performance goals supported historic window retention with replacement of non-historic windows at this 1930 courthouse

In accordance with Title 40 of the United States Code, GSA is charged with promulgating regulations governing the acquisition, use, and disposal of real property (real estate and land) and personal property (essentially all other property). This activity is centered in GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy. Policies promulgated by GSA are developed in collaboration with federal agencies, and are typically published for public comment in the Federal Register prior to publication as a Final Rule.

The Public Buildings Service provides workplaces for federal customer agencies and United States courthouses at good economies to the American taxpayer.^[20] PBS is funded primarily through the Federal Buildings Fund, which is supported by rent from federal customer agencies.^[20]

Disposal of surplus real property is managed by the Office of Property Disposal within the Public Buildings Service. The Office is responsible for property which includes land, office buildings, warehouses, former post offices, farms, family residences, commercial facilities, or airfields located in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or the U.S. Pacific Territories.^[21] Surplus property is made available to both government and private bidders and, in some cases, land sold for public purposes (such as parks or welfare) may be made available for a discount of up to 100% of the fair-market value.^[21]

GSA has earned a LEED rating for 24 green buildings.^[22] Some of green offerings at new buildings includes green roofs (planted roofs that can substantially reduce rainwater run-off during storms and provide significant insulation for the buildings),^[23] underfloor air distribution (that delivers cooling and heating air at floor level instead of from the ceiling),^[24] purchasing and using renewable power from utility companies, and light shelves (located outside of the building that reduce the amount of heat radiating into the building from the sun while increasing the amount of natural light and high ceilings that help direct daylight deep into the work environment).^[25] The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 made available not less than $4.5 billion for measures necessary to convert GSA facilities to High-Performance Green Buildings, as defined in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-140).

The Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program facilitates to the GSA the implementation, through project transaction services, applied technology services and decision support services, to deploy renewable energy technologies and cultivate change to embrace energy efficiency.^[26]

In 2004 the GSA was presented with the Honor Award from the National Building Museum for "success in creating and maintaining innovative environments for the federal community as well as providing a positive federal presence for the public."^[27]

Federal vehicle fleet management

GSA contributes to the management of U.S. Federal property, including a 210,000 vehicle motor pool.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included $300 million to acquire energy-efficient motor vehicles for the federal vehicle fleet. President Barack Obama announced that GSA will buy about 17,600 new, fuel-efficient vehicles from U.S. auto companies by June 1, 2009. The purchase will draw on funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will be on an accelerated schedule to help support U.S. automakers. The GSA will spend $285 million to purchase the vehicles from General Motors Corporation, Chrysler LLC, and Ford Motor Company. The purchase will include 2,500 hybrid sedans—the largest one-time purchase yet of hybrid vehicles for the federal government—and each new vehicle will yield at least a 10% fuel economy improvement over the vehicle it replaces. The GSA will also spend $15 million by the end of September to purchase a pilot fleet of advanced-technology vehicles, including all-electric vehicles and hybrid buses.^[28]

Hybrids accounted for about 10 percent of the 145,473 vehicles the U.S. General Services Administration bought during the fiscal years 2009 and 2010, after making up less than 1 percent of government vehicle purchases in 2008. As for specific models, Obama took a buy-American stance. The administration accounted for about two-thirds of the Chevrolet Malibu Hybrids sold during the past two years, and almost a third of the Ford Fusion Hybrids. By comparison, the administration acquired 17 Toyota Prius hybrids and five Honda Civic Hybrid vehicles in total.^[29] Ground Force One, so designated when transporting the POTUS, is one of two armored buses procured in 2010 for the transportation of dignitaries under protection of the Secret Service, at a cost of $1.1 million each. The coaches were assembled in Tennessee on frames made in Canada.^[30]

Interagency Resources Management Conference

The Interagency Resources Management Conference (IRMCO) was a federal executive conference of the General Services Administration, hosting about 300 federal and industry leaders each year. IRMCO began in 1961 as the ADPCO conference. In 1979, the Department of Commerce, GSA and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) jointly sponsored a conference for Senior Executive Service (SES) officials at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. At the same time, the National Archives hosted a small records management conference for senior executives, also located in Gettysburg. These two conferences merged with ADPCO and became IRMCO. Over the years, the conference has evolved its focus from highly specialized to integrated. In 1996, when U.S. Congress mandated the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO), these new federal executives were invited to attend IRMCO.^[31]

IRMCO was the government's primary senior executive conference when it was held as an offsite retreat for leaders from across government. Originally, industry participation was managed by a division of the Washington Post, Post-Newsweek Tech Media, and from 1999 to 2008, Post-Newsweek, with the assistance of a small, woman-owned business, Hosky Communications Inc., developed a strong following from the SES community for the event, on average generating 3-400 attendees with a 3:1 government to industry ratio. GSA leadership crafted conference content that directly addressed the Administration's goals throughout those years which the industry showcase demonstrated the roles that partners play in executing cost-cutting technology solutions for government.

In 2008, Hosky was awarded a competitive contract to continue to manage and develop the forum. From 2008 to 2010, IRMCO drew attendees from about 65 federal agencies, and diverse disciplines including information technology, human resources, acquisition, management and finance.

Once travel restrictions and budget concerns surfaced late 2010, IRMCO was moved to a local venue under the management services of A-S-K Associates, where primary attendance by industry was established as a means to inform commercial firms on GSA policies. IRMCO 2011 was held in Washington, D.C. at the Kellogg Conference Center and Hotel on the campus of Gallaudet University. ^[32][33][32]

Shortly after IRMCO 2011, GSA's Associate Administrator for Governmentwide Policy, Kathleen Turco, announced to media that she and other GSA officials felt that IRMCO had lost its spark and retired the event.^[34]

See also

References