Taxpayers will win if Congress helps appropriate government office space.

Good landlords want their buildings to function properly and their tenants to have adequate space to meet their needs. It's that simple. Currently, the federal government's mastermind, the General Services Administration (which I lead), is facing a unique moment in relation to both of these roles.

Meeting this moment requires transforming many federal facilities into modern, flexible workplaces. The potential rewards are significant, increasing the productivity and empowerment of federal employees, increasing long-term savings for taxpayers, and promoting economic growth in local communities.

Right-sizing government real estate has been a long-standing priority across multiple presidential administrations.

With half of the leases currently managed by GSA scheduled to expire in the next five years, now is the time to invest and consolidate agencies in government-owned facilities and save taxpayers billions of dollars. There has never been a more opportune time.

Taking advantage of this opportunity will require smart decisions, strategic coordination, and cooperation between Congress and the administration. President Biden's budget provides a smart roadmap for moving forward.

As a first step, the budget bill calls on Congress to make all rents that agencies pay into GSA's federal building funds available to GSA for building maintenance, repairs, and construction. The fund was established by Congress in 1972 to do just that, and it functioned that way for almost 40 years. But for the past 13 years, Congress has prevented those funds from being used for their intended purpose, instead collecting about $1 billion annually to offset non-building-related programs.

This intolerable situation has resulted in deferred maintenance on hundreds of properties, delaying smart, proactive measures that could have prevented major breakdowns and hundreds of millions of dollars in soaring costs. Congress could fix this problem and ensure that collections from agencies support only the uses for which they were intended, while retaining agency discretion over which projects to fund.

The fiscal year 2025 budget proposes to fix this problem, including $425 million in funding that would provide GSA with the upfront investment it needs to help relocate agencies and optimize the federal footprint. It also includes an optimization fund. This proactive approach to modernization is key to consolidating government space and selling or repurposing facilities that are no longer needed by state and local governments or can be put to better use by the private sector.

The result: fewer buildings, better buildings, and billions of dollars in savings.

Additionally, these buildings must be transformed into modern, flexible workspaces that integrate technology and reflect the way government agencies perform their missions today.

That's why GSA partnered with industry to create the Workplace Innovation Lab to show what's possible. Thousands of federal employees have already tested the lab space and provided valuable feedback.

This is also why our in-house experts now offer technology tools that make it easy for agencies to consider different workspace options and configurations to adapt to evolving telework scenarios and specific mission needs. .

Together, these actions and resources will enable federal employees to serve the American people more effectively and efficiently than ever before.

Finally, we are committed to working closely with local communities to transfer properties to local management in a manner that supports revitalization and economic development.

Being a good neighbor means creatively helping community organizations breathe new life into underutilized spaces. We know how to do this, and the results are visible across the country.

Here in Washington, we know that repurposing underutilized real estate can have a huge impact. This includes the redevelopment of the former Cotton Annex on the Southeast Waterfront, the West Heating Plant in Georgetown, and the National Park Seminary in Silver Spring. More opportunities lie ahead to repurpose underutilized federal buildings, from condos to housing for people experiencing homelessness, from technology centers to municipal buildings.

There has never been a more exciting and challenging time to be one of the custodians of the nation's largest government space. Reaching this moment can be a win for communities, taxpayers, and federal employees, but it will take serious collaboration, dedication, and upfront investment. You're ready to get to work.

Robin Carnahan is an administrator at the U.S. General Services Administration.