A temporary process established in 2016 to shed unneeded federal buildings is running out of time, and a persistent funding gap has slowed it down, according to Federal Real Property: Funding and Other Challenges Have Hindered Progress Under a Temporary Disposal Process, published Sept. 21 by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act of 2016 (FASTA) created a temporary, streamlined process for federal property disposal, establishing the Public Buildings Reform Board (PBRB) to recommend properties for sale and the General Services Administration (GSA) to carry out those sales. As of August, only 14 of 23 Board-recommended and approved properties had been disposed of, generating roughly $576 million in total sales proceeds, with most completed disposals coming from the 2019 round.
Sales proceeds flow into the Asset Proceeds and Space Management Fund, but GSA cannot tap that fund without a congressional appropriation, and Congress went three consecutive years, from 2023 to 2025, without providing one. Agency officials told GAO that the inconsistency made planning and budgeting for future sales costs difficult. The structural mismatch, where an agency generates revenue it cannot spend without separate legislative permission, is not unique to real property, but the FASTA record offers an example of how that constraint can stall an otherwise functional disposal mechanism.
The federal government owns hundreds of thousands of buildings that cost billions of dollars annually to occupy, operate, and maintain. Disposing of real property that agencies no longer need has been a longstanding challenge, with the process often taking years while the government continues to bear carrying costs. FASTA was Congress's answer to that problem, designed to compress timelines and create a self-funding mechanism through sales proceeds, reducing the need for annual discretionary appropriations to cover disposal expenses.
The mandate for this GAO review is statutory. FASTA itself requires the Comptroller General to at least annually monitor and review federal agencies' implementation activities and report to Congress, making this a congressionally mandated review rather than a request from a specific committee or member.
Congress appropriated $90 million from the Asset Proceeds and Space Management Fund between 2016 and 2022, then went silent on FASTA appropriations for three years. In 2026, Congress appropriated an additional roughly $143 million in FASTA proceeds, though agency officials said the uncertainty around accessing the fund had made planning and budgeting for future sales costs difficult.
Beyond the funding problem, tenant relocation has emerged as a persistent obstacle, particularly for the 2025 round, where most properties remain occupied by federal tenants. Timeframes for completing disposals on many 2025 round properties are not clear, due to shifting cost and schedule estimates. The James V. Forrestal Federal Building in Washington, D.C. is among the properties selected for disposal through the FASTA process.
FASTA's authorizing clock is nearly expired. A final disposal round is expected to be released before the PBRB ceases operations in December. Both GSA and the Board have suggested improvements to FASTA, including greater access to sales proceeds, if the law were extended beyond its December sunset.
GAO is making no new recommendations in this report. A prior recommendation, that GSA develop a process to collect, share, and apply lessons learned from FASTA implementation, remains open as of August, with GSA having taken steps toward it but not yet completing them.
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