IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6276 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2024 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

AN ACT 

To authorize the Administrator of General Services and the 

Director of the Office of Management and Budget to 

identify the utilization rate of certain public buildings 

and federally- leased space, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Utilizing Space Effi3 ciently and Improving Technologies Act of 2023’’ or the 

4 ‘‘USE IT Act of 2023’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act: 

7 (1) ACTUAL UTILIZATION RATE.—The term 

8 ‘‘actual utilization rate’’ means the total usable 

9 square footage of a public building or federally10 leased space divided by the occupancy. 

11 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis12 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv13 ices. 

14 (3) BUILDING UTILIZATION.—The term ‘‘build15 ing utilization’’ means the percentage of utilization 

16 generated by comparing the actual utilization rate 

17 with the capacity based on a utilization benchmark 

18 of 150 useable square feet per person. 

19 (4) CAPACITY.—The term ‘‘capacity’’ means the 

20 total usable square footage of a public building or 

21 federally-leased space divided by a utilization bench22 mark. 

23 (5) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

24 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg25 et. 


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1 (6) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 

2 agency’’ means an executive department covered by 

3 the CFO Act of 1990 (Public Law 101–576). 

4 (7) OCCUPANCY.—The term ‘‘occupancy’’ 

5 means the total number of employees actually per6 forming duties in person in a public building or fed7 erally-leased space 40 hours per week regardless of 

8 work arrangements. 

9 SEC. 3. IDENTIFICATION AND DEPLOYMENT OF BUILDING 

10 USAGE TECHNOLOGY. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

12 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in co13 ordination with the Director, shall establish standard 

14 methodologies and identify technologies available for 

15 measuring occupancy in public buildings and federally16 leased space. 

17 (b) MEASUREMENT OF UTILIZATION.—Not later 

18 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

19 the heads of Federal agencies shall work with the Admin20 istrator to identify, deploy, and use sensors, Personal 

21 Identity Verification badge swipe data isolating only the 

22 first credential use of the day for each cardholder, and 

23 other technologies in public buildings and federally-leased 

24 space, where the Federal agency occupies space to meas25 ure the occupancy of public buildings and leased space. 


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1 (c) PROTECTION OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE IN2 FORMATION.—In carrying out subsection (b), the Admin3 istrator shall ensure any sensors used for the purposes of 

4 determining occupancy are designed to protect of all per5 sonally identifiable information. 

6 SEC. 4. REPORTING ON USAGE OF REAL PROPERTY. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

8 date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

9 the heads of Federal agencies shall submit to the Director, 

10 the Administrator, the Committee on Transportation and 

11 Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, the Com12 mittee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate, 

13 and the Committees on Appropriations of the House of 

14 Representatives and the Senate a report on— 

15 (1) the occupancy and the actual utilization 

16 rates of space in public buildings and federally17 leased space occupied by the respective agency of the 

18 Federal agency head broken down by building and 

19 lease; 

20 (2) the methodology used for determining occu21 pancy, including the period of time and other pa22 rameters used to determine occupancy on a regular 

23 basis; 

24 (3) the utilization percentage of each public 

25 building and federally-leased space by the respective 


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1 agency of the Federal agency head, comparing the 

2 capacity to the actual utilization rate based on a uti3 lization benchmark of 150 usable square feet per 

4 person; and 

5 (4) any costs associated with capacity that ex6 ceeds occupancy with respect to the respective agen7 cy of the Federal agency head. 

8 (b) PUBLISHING REQUIREMENT.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para10 graph (2), the heads of Federal agencies shall make 

11 each report required under subsection (a) available 

12 on a publicly accessible website of the General Serv13 ices Administration. 

14 (2) EXCEPTION.—The publishing requirements 

15 of paragraph (1) shall not apply if the head of the 

16 respective Federal agency makes a determination 

17 that making the report required under subsection 

18 (a) available on a publicly accessible website would 

19 be detrimental to national security. 

20 SEC. 5. REDUCING UNNEEDED SPACE. 

21 (a) TARGET UTILIZATION METRICS.—Not later than 

22 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and annu23 ally thereafter, the Director, in consultation with the Ad24 ministrator, shall ensure building utilization in each public 


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1 building and federally-leased space is not less than 60 per2 cent on average over each 1-year period. 

3 (b) ACTIONS.—In the event that building utilization 

4 is below 60 percent on average over a 1-year period de5 scribed in subsection (a) for any particular public building 

6 or federally-leased space, the Administrator shall— 

7 (1) provide notice to the tenant agency inform8 ing such agency of the excess in capacity along with 

9 associated costs of such excess; and 

10 (2) notify the Committee on Transportation 

11 and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, 

12 the Committee on Environment and Public Works of 

13 the Senate, and the Committees on Appropriations 

14 of the House of Representatives and the Senate of 

15 such excess capacity and associated costs. 

16 (c) SUBSEQUENT FAILURE.—If the tenant agency 

17 fails to meet the 60 percent target under subsection (a) 

18 in the reporting period subsequent to the reporting period 

19 under subsection (b), the Administrator shall, in consulta20 tion with the Director, take steps to reduce the space of 

21 the tenant agency, including consolidating the tenant 

22 agency with another agency, selling or disposing of excess 

23 capacity space, and adjusting space requirements, as ap24 propriate, for any replacement space. 


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1 (d) PRIORITIZATION.—The Administrator, in coordi2 nation with the Director, shall prioritize to the maximum 

3 extent practicable capital investments in public buildings 

4 where Federal agencies meet or exceed building utilization 

5 metrics, except that prioritization may be given to projects 

6 that will result in building utilization of 60 percent or 

7 more. 

8 (e) EXCEPTIONS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director may provide 

10 exceptions to building utilization metrics based on 

11 the amount of non-standard office space a Federal 

12 agency demonstrates is required to meet the mission 

13 of the agency, including warehouse space, labora14 tories critical to the mission of the agency, and pub15 lic customer-facing spaces driven by agency mis16 sions. 

17 (2) REPORTING.—The Administrator shall sub18 mit to the Committee on Transportation and Infra19 structure of the House of Representatives, the Com20 mittee on Environment and Public Works of the 

21 Senate, and the Committees on Appropriations of 

22 the House of Representatives and the Senate a re23 port on any exceptions granted, including the jus24 tification for such exception. 


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1 SEC. 6. HEADQUARTERS BUILDINGS. 

2 (a) HEADQUARTERS CONSOLIDATIONS.—Not later 

3 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

4 Director, in consultation with the Administrator, shall 

5 submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infra6 structure of the House of Representatives, the Committee 

7 on Environment and Public Works of the Senate, and the 

8 Comptroller General of the United States a plan to con9 solidate department and agency headquarters buildings in 

10 the National Capital Region that will result in building 

11 utilizations of 60 percent or greater. 

12 (b) CONTENTS.—The plan submitted under sub13 section (a) shall include details on the following: 

14 (1) Which departments and agencies will collo15 cate and consolidate and into which buildings and 

16 associated details before and after plan implementa17 tion related to building utilization, building capac18 ities, and actual utilization. 

19 (2) Details on the strategies for the sale or dis20 posal of buildings that will no longer be needed for 

21 Federal use. 

22 (3) A detailed breakdown of any costs associ23 ated with the proposed consolidations and colloca24 tions. 

25 (4) An estimate of future savings as a result of 

26 space reductions and consolidations, including costs 


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1 associated with energy savings and building oper2 ations. 

3 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 1 year after 

4 the submission of the plan under subsection (a), the Ad5 ministrator and Director shall begin implementing such 

6 plan. 

7 SEC. 7. FEDERAL USE IT OR LOSE IT LEASES ACT. 

8 (a) REPORTING OF SPACE UTILIZATION AND OCCU9 PANCY DATA FOR OFFICE SPACE.—An occupancy agree10 ment between the Administrator of General Services and 

11 a Federal tenant for office space shall— 

12 (1) include language that requires the Federal 

13 tenant to submit to the Administrator an annual re14 port for the duration of the agreement containing 

15 data on— 

16 (A) monthly total occupancy of such office 

17 space; 

18 (B) the actual utilization of such office 

19 space; 

20 (C) monthly space utilization rates; and 

21 (D) any other office space utilization data 

22 considered important by the Administrator; and 

23 (2) include language that requires the Federal 

24 tenant to have written procedures in place governing 

25 the return of office space to the Administrator if the 


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1 occupancy of the Federal tenant falls below a 60 

2 percent space utilization rate for 6 months within 

3 any 1-year period, beginning on the date on which 

4 the agreement takes effect. 

5 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL AGENCIES WITH

6 INDEPENDENT LEASING AUTHORITIES.—The head of any 

7 agency with independent leasing authorities with leases for 

8 office space shall submit to the Committee on Transpor9 tation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, 

10 the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the 

11 Senate, and each congressional committee of jurisdiction 

12 of the applicable independent leasing authority an annual 

13 report for the duration of such agreement containing data 

14 on— 

15 (1) monthly total occupancy of the office space; 

16 (2) the actual utilization of such office space; 

17 (3) monthly space utilization rates; and 

18 (4) any other office space utilization data con19 sidered important for collection by Congress. 

20 (c) EXCEPTIONS TO REPORTING AND OCCUPANCY

21 AGREEMENT REQUIREMENTS.—This section shall not 

22 apply to properties used by an element of the intelligence 

23 community. 

24 (d) APPLICABILITY.—The requirements of this sec25 tion shall apply to any occupancy or novation agreement 


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1 entered into on or after the date that is 6 months after 

2 the date of enactment of this Act. 

3 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) FEDERAL TENANT.—The term ‘‘Federal 

5 tenant’’— 

6 (A) means an Federal agency that has an 

7 occupancy agreement with the Administrator of 

8 General Services to occupy a commercial lease 

9 for office space secured by the Administrator on 

10 behalf of the Federal Government; and 

11 (B) does not include an element of the in12 telligence community. 

13 (2) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 

14 ‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given 

15 that term in section 3 of the National Security Act 

16 of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003). 

17 SEC. 8. GAO REPORT. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

19 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

20 of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 

21 on the cost to each Federal agency of measuring the occu22 pancy and actual utilization rates of space in public build23 ings and federally-leased space to prepare the reports re24 quired under section 4. 


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1 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The Comptroller General shall 

2 include in the report required under subsection (a) the 

3 cost of deploying sensors and technologies pursuant to sec4 tion 3 but shall exclude any such technologies that were 

5 in place before the date of enactment of this Act. 

6 SEC. 9. INVESTIGATION OF UNDERUTILIZED SPACE. 

7 (a) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 90 

8 days after the submission of each report under section 4, 

9 the head of each Federal agency shall submit to the in10 spector general of each respective agency a report detail11 ing any public building or federally-leased space with a 

12 capacity of 500 or more employees under the jurisdiction 

13 of such agency that has a utilization rate below 20 percent 

14 during the reporting period that is not a vacant office 

15 building. 

16 (b) INSPECTOR GENERAL INVESTIGATION.—Upon 

17 receipt of a report under subsection (a), the inspector gen18 eral of the relevant Federal agency shall conduct an inves19 tigation to determine whether there is any evidence of 

20 fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement with respect to 


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1 the use of the public building or federally-leased space 

2 identified in the report. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 12, 

2024. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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