House passes Edwards’ bill to slash spending on vacant government office space

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Congressman Chuck Edwards’ (R-NC-11) bill - the Federal Use it or Lose it Leases (FULL) Act - by a unanimous voice vote.

Edwards introduced the bipartisan FULL Act to reduce wasteful government spending on unused, leased office space. Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA-03) is the co-lead of this legislation.

The legislation was passed as an amendment to the Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies (USE It) Act, which would create mandatory reporting requirements for agencies.

Federal agencies are currently not required to regularly provide data about occupancy and the availability of leased space to the General Services Administration (GSA). Yet, federal government office leases cost taxpayers more than $6 billion a year and reports of unused office space in federal buildings have continued to increase with greater telework policies by government agencies. At present, occupancy in federal Washington, D.C. offices is less than 54 percent of pre-pandemic levels, and a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that 17 out of the 24 major federal agency headquarter buildings in Washington D.C. were less than 25 percent occupied during the first quarter of 2023, with some less than 10 percent full.

Despite this, even during a maximum telework period, federal agencies have somehow managed to spend more than $1 billion every year on new furnishings.

With more than half of all current federal leases set to expire in the next five years, the FULL Act would prevent the government from continuing to purchase expensive building leases and office furniture while large percentages of its workforce continue to telework.

Edwards said, “The FULL Act will help keep taxpayers from footing the bill for unused office space by making sure the federal government only leases the office space it needs and will use. As federal telework levels remain high, government agencies’ D.C. offices are sitting mostly empty. My bill, the FULL Act, passed the House with bipartisan support and will enable Congress to effectively perform oversight of government spending on office leases by requiring federal agencies to use it or lose it.”

The FULL Act requires:

• Federal tenants submit an annual report on monthly total occupancy and space utilization to the GSA.
• Federal tenants have written procedures in place for returning office space to the GSA if the space is used less than 60 percent of the time for six months or more within any one-year period.
• Independent leasing authorities to submit reports to congressional committees of jurisdiction on occupancy and space utilization.