THE GOAL
Following the presidential mandate to shed unused space and the Telework Enhancement Act that encouraged a more distributed workforce, The General Services Administration, the government’s leader in real estate management, committed to establishing a new workplace standard for all federal agencies. They would do so with the ambitious goal of consolidating all of GSA’s D.C.-area employees, spread across six DC-area leases into one 800,000 square foot building.
THE EXECUTION
GSA began with an extensive series of studies to determine how much (and what kind of) space they really needed. Once they implemented AgilQuest’s OnBoard Workplace Management System, GSA could put technology in place to gather and evaluate information to make it easy for them to share space and facilitate a Smart Building and Smart Occupancy technology strategy. The marriage of GSA’s Smart Building (which encompasses data points like HVAC, electricity, and lights) and Smart Occupancy (which concerns who is where, when) initiatives has yielded both a powerful solution for the workforce that could be mirrored across other federal agencies.
THE RESULTS
GSA, to create a more mobile work environment, achieved a 2:1 worker-to-workspace ratio, supporting 4,400 employees with only 2,200 desks. By consolidating those six leases into one, the organization saved nearly 50 percent in annual lease costs, a total a $24 million. On top of that, they’ve saved another $7–8 million by sharing all service costs, like security and supplies. Additionally, they reduced carbon and energy consumption by 50 percent, saved 16 million kilowatts of energy annually, and avoided 16 metric tons of CO2.
