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Real Property Metrics

The Federal Real Property Council (FRPC) is publishing a set of fiscal year 2020 real property metrics for Federal agencies. The Federal Property Management Reform Act of 2016 requires that real property performance metrics be established. In addition, in the Office of Management and Budget M-20-10, Issuance of an Addendum to the National Strategy for the Efficient Use of Real Property, Action 6 states that the government will establish and publish accountable annual performance metrics for all agencies. The FRPC has established a set of five real property metric categories:

  • Operating and Maintenance Costs per Square Foot
  • Rent Costs per Square Foot
  • Reduce the Footprint
  • Condition Index
  • Square Feet per Person

Within each category there can be multiple metrics for each CFO act agency and bureau. To access the real property metrics category, click one of the buttons below to reveal a description of the category and visualization. Each metric below, with the exception of Reduce the Footprint has data at both the agency and bureau level. Please navigate between the Agency and Bureau level using the tabs at the top of the visualization or the blue arrow buttons on the top-right side of the tool.

The Metrics

Operating and Maintenance Costs per Square Foot

The metrics in the Operating and Maintenance Costs per Square Foot category show the ratio of a building’s operating and maintenance costs compared to the size of that building. The metrics calculate the total costs, either operating or maintenance, divided by the total square feet for owned office and warehouse buildings in the agency's inventory. You can select the different metrics for office space or warehouse space in the Please Select a metric from the Dropdown List Filter.

The square footage in the operating and maintenance costs per square foot calculation is based on an agency’s owned gross square footage and the usable square footage from occupancy agreements managed by GSA.

Rent Costs per Square Foot

The metrics in the Rent Costs per Square Foot category show the ratio of a building’s total lease costs compared to the size of that building. The metrics calculate the total lease costs divided by the total square feet for leased office and warehouse buildings in the agency's inventory. Direct Leased assets are assets that are leased directly by the agency, whereas Occupancy Agreements are spaces that agencies sublease from GSA, GSA may own or lease these assets.

The square footage in the rent costs per square foot calculation is based on an agency’s leased rentable square footage and the usable square footage from occupancy agreements managed by GSA.

You can select the different metrics for the varying lease structures for office or warehouse space in the Please Select a metric from the Dropdown List Filter.

Reduce the Footprint Policy (RTF)

OMB Memorandum No. 2015-01 issued the RTF policy. The Reduce the Footprint policy required the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies to submit annual Real Property Efficiency Plans (Plan) to OMB that: (1) set annual square foot (SF) reduction targets for federal domestic buildings over a rolling five-year period; (2) adopt an office space design standard to optimize federal domestic office space usage; and, (3) maintain agencies’ office and warehouse portfolios below their fiscal year (FY) 2015 RTF baselines. Under the RTF policy, OMB has established government-wide policy to use property as efficiently as possible and to reduce agency portfolios though annual reduction targets. With the issuance of OMB Memorandum M-20-03 Implementation of Agency-wide Real Property Capital Planning, the CFO Act agencies are no longer required to submit annual Plans to OMB. Agencies are still required to set the office, warehouse, and owned property annual reduction targets, but these targets are incorporated into the agency capital plans supported by a brief narrative.

Reduce the Footprint Policy Results: FY 2020

In FY 2020 civilian agencies reduced their office and warehouse space by 266,690 SF. The effect of this reduction was an estimated annual cost increase of $7 million, as the small reduction in SF was not enough to offset scheduled increases in lease rates (i.e. annual inflation) resulting in a net cost increase relative to cost in FY 2018. (Note that these figures exclude the Department of Defense, and short-term space the US Census Bureau acquired to execute the 2020 census.)

The FY 2020 results brings the FY 2016 – FY 2020 results for the RTF policy to a 8.2 million SF reduction to office and warehouse space with an estimated annual cost avoidance of $130.7 million.

The square footage in the graphic below is the total summation of an agency's owned gross square footage, leased rentable square footage, and the usable square footage from occupancy agreements managed by GSA.

Condition Index

The Condition Index metric is an assessment of the ratio of an owned building’s repair needs and replacement value of that building. To compute the condition index for a given building, the following formula is used: (1 - (Repair Needs / Replacement Value) * 100). The higher a condition index score the better condition that building should be in. The metric below computes the average condition index across all owned buildings in a portfolio while controlling for the size of each building.

Square Feet per Person

The metrics in the Square Feet per Person category show the ratio of a building’s size compared to the number of people located in that building. They calculate total square feet divided by the number of employees and contractors located in the building. The metric is based on office buildings in the agency's inventory.

The square footage used in the metrics below varies with the legal interest selected. When the Direct Owned metric is selected the calculation uses the agency’s owned gross square footage; when the Direct Leased metric is selected rentable square footage is used; and when occupancy agreement metric is selected the usable square footage is used. This has implications on how you can interpret the metrics. The "Gross Square Footage" calculation includes more space than "Rentable Square Footage". In turn, the "Rentable Square Footage" calculation includes more space than "Usable Square Footage".

You can select the different metrics for the varying legal interest types in the Please Select a metric from the Dropdown List Filter.

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