Federal agencies are operating with significant amounts of underused office space, according to the first publicly released data under the USE IT Act. With many departments falling short of the government's 60% utilization benchmark, the findings highlight both inefficiencies and opportunities to optimize the federal real estate portfolio.
The Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act (USE IT Act), passed by Congress in 2022, requires federal agencies covered by the Chief Financial Officers Act to measure and report on how efficiently they use their offices and workspaces. Agencies must submit data on both owned and leased space, including total square footage, office-specific square footage, occupancy levels and capacity.
The goal is to give policymakers and the public visibility on how federal buildings are being used and identify opportunities to reduce underutilized space, cut costs and optimize the government's real estate portfolio.
Across federal agencies, underutilized office space is the rule rather than the exception. The General Services Administration reported using only 40% of its total space, with 47% of office areas occupied, while the Department of Justice showed 24% overall utilization and 48% for offices, highlighting significant unused property. Other major agencies painted a similar picture. Agriculture and Labor operated at roughly 26–27% overall occupancy, Treasury at 31%, Interior at 36% and the Department of State at 35% overall occupancy and 51% office utilization.
Overall figures include all areas of a building, including hallways, lobbies, conference rooms and storage. Office utilization focuses only on the spaces where employees actually work. In many cases, the work areas are moderately occupied, but much of the buildings remain empty, underscoring opportunities to consolidate space, reduce costs and better align federal real estate with staffing and operational needs.
The data also highlights differences between owned and leased space, with leased offices generally seeing slightly higher occupancy. For example, the Department of State's utilization was boosted by leased space, while the Department of Justice's owned buildings remained largely underused.
While GSA notes that agencies are still refining occupancy measurements, it said the report establishes a baseline for future tracking and accountability.
"This is a critical first step in understanding how federal space is being used and where we can improve efficiency," said GSA Administrator Edward C. Forst.
He added that the data will guide efforts to reduce excess space, dispose of underused buildings and co-locate agencies with similar missions to maximize square-foot value.
Under the law, agencies must plan to address space that fails to meet the benchmark, whether through consolidation, relocation or other strategies. Several agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are already relocating employees to buildings with higher occupancy, while others are preparing to sell or repurpose underused properties.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.