Date: 2012-02-06
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. As I understand this legislation. it is to establish a commission that deals with the civilian property realignment for this Nation. Some 340 millionplus square feet. I understand. is within the jurisdiction of the General Services Administration. I want to acknowledge the leadership of the ranking member on many issues dealing with property around the Nation. Thank her for that leadership. My amendment is a simple amendment that expresses that the commission. or other appropriate Federal agencies. should conduct a publicinformation campaign to advise small. minority. womenowned businesses of the available contracts under this particular commission and report to Congress. Just this morning. before I flew to Washington. I had a room full of small. minority. and womenowned businesses clamoring to understand how to interact with the Federal Government. In fact. one particular womenowned business stood up and said that they had been certified for however long and never could get any information on how to access opportunities that could be utilized by their small business to create jobs. This amendment is a sense of Congress that provides a public awareness campaign that would help to ensure that a broad swath of the small business community is reached. It is imperative that these businesses are aware of the existence of contracts. It is also imperative that the process for obtaining a Government contract is clear. which is why it is extremely important that the commission. along with other appropriate Federal agencies. implement an awareness campaign targeting small. minority. and womenowned businesses. I further believe there should be accountability as to which firms are receiving these lucrative contracts. and a system of monitoring. Everyone has said on the floor of the Housebipartisan. Republicans and Democratswe are for small businesses. So am I. I want them thriving. growing. surviving. and getting the information to do business with this huge Federal Government. This amendment. which is a sense of Congress. I believe gives them an opportunity to play on an equal playing field. We know what will happen with a commission: that those who have always known how to access the system will be at the front of the line. Lets give these small companies an opportunity to also achieve their dreams and aspiration for the American Dream. I ask my colleagues to support this amendment. and I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. Chair. I rise to debate H.R. 1734. the "Civilian Property Realignment Act." I offered an amendment to this measure which acknowledges the challenges faced by small. minority. and womenowned businesses that participate in the government contracting process. However. I have several reservations about this bill. The failure to include language that would require an environmental impact analysis of these properties does not make sense. The original bill waived Title V of the of the McKinneyVento Act. which provides for the free transfer of surplus federal properties to homeless providers. as well as. the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Homeless providers have claimed less than 1 percent of the thousands of properties available to them because of the size of the properties. I was led to believe that an agreement had been reached to ensure that a provision that applied the McKinneyVento requirements to properties of a certain size and value would be in this bill. it is unclear whether that will be the case. In addition. the bill contains a second poisonous pill. as it waives the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which requires a thorough public examination of the environmental impacts of a project or property transfer. to avoid an unintended adverse effect on a surrounding community and a harmful precedent of waiving appropriate environmental review on major infrastructure projects. Many of these properties are decades old. These buildings may contain asbestos among other issues that may have a direct impact on those who renovate them. as well as. the surrounding communities in which they are located. Allowing those communities to express their concerns through a public comment period is reasonable. In addition. ensuring that the federal government does all that it can to remediate its own property prior to transfer or renovation is an example to all other sectors of the importance of adhering to environmental safety standards. If these concerns can be addressed this bill serves as a reasonable vehicle to help combat the deficit. If these concerns cannot be address this bill may be fatally flawed. Would require federal agencies to compile environmental information about all property being considered for action and provide for a limited review of property by homeless service providers. President Obama. first proposed this bipartisan measure in his budget last year as a means to decrease unnecessary government spending and reduce the deficit. It is my hope that the issues that have been raised can be addressed before we must vote on this measu re. H.R. 1734 establishes the Civilian Property Realignment Commission (CPRC) to better manage federal buildings and facilities. This measure would give the Commission broad new authorities to consolidate. dispose of. or sell some government properties. In addition. the Commission is required to sell at least five facilities that have a combined estimated fair market value of at least $500 million. I believe that if this legislation passes that the newly formed Civilian Property Realignment Commission (CPRC) should take steps to educate and assist small. women. and minorityowned businesses when awarding contracts related to the sale or redevelopment of federal property. However the bill does not address concerns raised related to the impact on the homeless and it removes a provision that requires an environmental impact study before the transfer of any federal land. These studies are a tool to determine the land. air. and water quality of the property being transferred and the intended use of said property. I believe that it is not in the best interest of the government or local communities to remove this vital safety featu re. H.R. 1734 is similar to the Department of Defense Base Realignment Commission (BRAC) law. which allows the federal government to make the best use of surplus and underused properties under the jurisdiction of various federal agencies. and to dispose of properties the government does not need to help with debt reduction. It is important to remember that the federal government owns a significant amount of property. The role of the CPRC is to present an accurate view of how that property is currently utilized and consolidate certain activities. For example. currently 30 different agencies have 30 different leasing methods. the CPRC would streamline the process by taking over leasing authority. The General Services Administration (GSA) one of the largest real estate organizations in the world. with an inventory consisting of 8.920 assets with over 342 million square feet of rentable space across all 50 states. 6 U.S. Territories. and the District of Columbia. They serve approximately 1 million Federal employees at 59 different agencies. The GSA has a portfolio which consists primarily of office buildings. courthouses. laboratories. border stations. and warehouses. GSAs current inventory consists of 8.932 assets totaling 387.841.174 gross square feet (gsf) nationwide. When these assets are separated between leased and owned. the portfolio consists of 1.884 owned assets totaling 218.983.699 gsf and 7.048 leased assets representing 168.857.475 gsf. The annual operating costs for FY2005 were $1.5 billion. $800 million for government owned and $650 million for leased locations. The replacement value of the owned inventory is $37.2 billion. They have reduced the percentage of underutilized and nonperforming assets from 42 percent to 26 percent. Reduced vacant space from 9.2 percent to 6.8 percent. significantly below the 2005 industry average rate of 12.5 percent. and. Reported excess 204 assets and demolished 50 buildings and. as a result. eliminated 3.1 million rentable square feet of vacant space and achieved a cost avoidance of $400 million in capital reinvestment needs. As of October 1. 2002. federal agencies reported a total of 927 vacant and underutilized real propertiesincluding facilities and landlocated throughout the United States and Puerto Rico in 294 cities. The Veterans Administration (VA) reported the most properties577. General Service Administration (GSA) reported 236 properties. and United States Postal Service (USPS) reported 114 properties. Most of these properties807 of 927were facilities that represented about 32.1 million square feet and ranged from office buildings to hospitals to post offices. Although VA reported the highest number of facilities. GSA facilities made up more than half of this square footage. The remaining 120 properties were vacant lands reported only by VA and USPS. most of which were 10 acres or less. Onethird or 125 of GSAs underutilized and unutilized assets have been reported excess and accepted for disposal. These assets account for almost 9 million gross square feet (gsf) and $10.9 million in operating expenses that will be eliminated upon completion of the disposal action. Another 18 underutilized assets with approximately 1 million gross square feet (gsf) and $1.5 million in operating costs are projected for disposal in the next five years pending customer relocation. There were 89 leased facilities that were determined to be underutilized with operating costs totaling $6.2 million in FY2005. GSA eliminates vacant leased space by backfilling space with other customers. terminating the lease or vacant portion thereof or buying out the remaining lease term whenever possible. At the end of FY2005. GSAs leased vacancy rate was at a record low level (below 1.5%). With an aging inventory it is imperative that we reinvest in our federal facilities to maintain a quality workplace for our federal agencies. At any given time a significant portion of our vacant space is under renovation. As of September 30. 2005. GSA had 21 assets vacated for major renovations accounting for almost 9 million gross square feet and $39.6 million in operating expenses. As the current projects are completed. the space will be backfilled and these assets will once again become utilized. At the same time. new projects will begin in different assets keeping the amount of assets that are underutilized due to major renovations fairly constant. The Civilian Property Realignment Commission (CPRC) will review all federal properties and leases utilized for civilian use to determine an accurate number of properties that are either vacant or underutilized. The independent Commission (CPRC). operating under the GSA. will transform how federal real estate is managed. The purpose of the Commission will be to convert real estate inefficiencies into reductions in the Federal deficit. By facilitating and expediting the sale and disposal of unneeded properties. reducing our reliance on costly leased space. and sell or redevelop high value assets that are underutilized. I firmly believe this Commission should consider the impact of their decisions on the small business community. Specifically. small. minority. and womenowned businesses which face many challenges when trying to learn about the existence of government contracts for which they can apply. as well as. maneuvering through the complex government contracting process. As the decisions of the Commission will impact local communities. revitalize neighborhoods. decrease government spending. and reduce the deficit. The Commission should recognize the important role that small businesses play in our economy. My amendment simply expresses that the Commission or other appropriate federal agency should conduct a public information campaign to advise small. minority. womenowned businesses of the available contracts. In order to ensure that a broad swath of the small business community is reached it is imperative that these businesses are aware of the existence of contracts. It is also imperative that the process for attaining a government contract is clear. which is why it is extremely important that the Commission. along with all other appropriate federal agencies. implement an awareness campaign targeting small. minority. and womenowned businesses. The only way to ensure a diverse representation of businesses is through targeted awareness campaigns followed by a clear process. along with adequate support. Further. I believe there should be accountability as to which firms are receiving these lucrative contracts. The Commission should report to Congress and the President every 6 months. This report should include the amount of contracts awarded to business firms. The report should also include small. minority. and womenowned businesses. as well as. subcontracts awarded to these businesses. Few would argue with the premise that small business is the backbone of our economy and the heartbeat of our nation. The small business owner reflects a valued principle in our nations heritage. The belief that an individual or a group of individuals can come together to build a business from the ground up then employ their neighbors.