Steve calls out the wrongheaded argument that spending $75 million on FBI salaries is not economic stimulus. We can go a step further: Everything on the Republican list of “wasteful projects” is stimulative. $88 million for a new Coast Guard icebreaker? Someone is getting paid to build the ship. $248 million for new furniture at DHS headquarters? Someone has to build the furniture. Even the $400 million for the CDC’s STD prevention programs has an effect on the economy, because someone — whether feds or contractors — is getting paid to administer those programs. You can argue that these aren’t…
Browsing: Facilities
The National Capital Planning Commission in January approved the master plan to transform the 176-acre abandoned St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital compound into a headquarters complex for the Homeland Security Department. Federal Times videographer Colin Kelly and Senior Staff Writer Tim Kauffman recently participated in a media tour of the southeast Washington site. Here’s Colin’s footage:
We’ll have a longer story about federal modernization projects in the stimulus package in Monday’s issue of Federal Times. A quick preview, though, because I want to address the misinformation floating around about the $200 million earmarked for the National Mall. Â The Tidal Basin and the structurally unsound wall near the memorial. (Courtesy ktylerconk via Flickr) The House version of the stimulus includes about $2 billion for national parks, and yes, $200 million is for the Mall. But that money isn’t all for new grass on the Mall, as some critics are suggesting. That’s a ridiculous sum (even by…
General Services Administration officials have confirmed that acting Rocky Mountain Regional Administrator Paul Prouty, is now the new acting chief of the entire agency. Prouty, a Public Building Service career official, replaced Jim Williams in the role of acting GSA administrator on Jan. 20, according to GSA. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the appointment. Williams has returned to his former job as commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service. He was nominated by former President Bush to run the agency last summer, but was never confirmed by the Senate. Williams had been running the agency on an acting basis ever since.
There are 8,600 facilities with at least one set of the official portraits of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, and at noon eastern tomorrow the portraits will have to be “removed and respectfully disposed†of, according to a GSA spokeswoman. The spokeswoman didn’t expand on what “respectfully dispose†means, so your guess is as good as ours. The portraits will be replaced by the official photos of President Obama and Vice President Biden as soon as prints become available, which probably means most offices won’t see these smiling faces until March, according to GSA.
When President Bush leaves the White House on Jan. 20, he’ll have some comfortable digs to work out of in Dallas. The General Services Administration has secured 8,000 square feet of office space at Sherry Lane Place, a highrise office building in downtown Dallas, for the soon-to-be former presisdent, GSA said yesterday afternoon in a press release. The 10-year lease will cost taxpayers $311,600 annually — that’s $38.95 per square foot, more than twice the average Dallas office rent, according to this Bloomberg report. The size and cost of Bush’s new office space is in keeping with the space secured for…
As construction spending nationwide continues to decline, many builders are hoping for a big boost thanks to the economic stimulus package being drafted in Congress. Details of the massive package — likely to total $750 billion or more — haven’t been fleshed out, but billions no doubt will be included to fund construction of new homes, offices, roads and utilities. With that in mind, the Associated General Contractors of America has just released a detailed summary of how $1 billion in new construction spending would benefit each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the nation at a whole. Nationwide, for…
A long-time career employee will run the government’s largest real estate provider, the General Services Administration announced Monday. Anthony Costa, the Public Buildings Service’s deputy commissioner and highest ranking career federal employee, took over on Sunday and will presumably serve as acting commissioner until the incoming Obama administration names its pick to lead PBS. As acting administrator, Costa will manage GSA’s building portfolio of 8,600 leased and owned federal facilities. He takes over from political appointee, David Winstead, who ran the service since Oct. 2005. Costa previously served as acting commissioner in the two months prior to Winstead’s 2005 appointment. Update:…
The General Services Administration issued a rule last week that effectively ended the relevance of that old cliché about government decisions being made in smoke-filled rooms. The rule, published in the Federal Register on Dec. 22, closed smoking rooms in all federal buildings owned or leased by GSA. It also prohibited smoking in building courtyards and within 25 feet of doorways or air intake ducts. Agencies will implement the rule over the next six months. While this will undoubtedly change federal culture for many, FedLine wonders if it will change the lexicon of political expression. Somehow saying decisions were made…
As we’re reporting in today’s Federal Times, dozens of federal building projects are on hold because of the worsening credit crisis. The problem is especially severe for so-called build-to-suit lease projects, which are new facilities built to agency specifications and owned by private developers, then leased back to the government. The General Services Administration has nearly four dozen such projects on standby right now, some dating back five years. Hours after we wrapped up this week’s issue on Friday, the General Services Administration provided us an updated list of the projects that are on hold. Most of the buildings are…