"We are trying to drive more productive behavior and better asset management in the federal government," says Stan Kaczmarczyk, director of the Innovative Workplaces Division of GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy. "I believe we can use the Internet in facilities management to provide better service to our customers—the federal workers who, in turn, are delivering government services to U.S. citizens. We can lower costs, reduce transaction times, improve portfolio management, and realize fewer errors by using more e-management systems."

GSA, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is comprised of the Public Buildings Service, the Federal Technology Service, and the Federal Supply Service, as well as the Office of Governmentwide Policy (OGP) where Kaczmarczyk works. The OGP develops policy and provides guidance and best practices covering all the GSA business lines for the benefit of all federal agency customers (whether they choose to procure those services from the GSA or under their own authorities).

GSA believes using the Internet for e-real estate purposes could reap real benefits for the federal government, which controls a space inventory of 3.2 billion sf. The GSA inventory alone covers 340 million sf spread over approximately 7,000 leases and 1,900 government-owned buildings.

"People think the federal government is a huge, centralized bureaucracy, but all of the agencies and bureaus operate very independently of each other. They all have their own cultures and their own information systems which may not always talk to each other," notes Kaczmarczyk. "Using more Web-enabled systems could be very beneficial for inventory management and monitoring real estate in a decentralized real property environment such as the federal government."

Using the Internet to Manage Real Estate Functions

"It was clear the private sector was investing heavily in Web-enabled real estate management functions and I was interested in finding out what the federal government was doing," says Dennis Goldstein, senior realty specialist for GSA. "We went to the major real estate holding companies a year ago to see what Web-enabled systems they were using, and then we looked to see what the government was doing to manage its real estate."

Goldstein began his quest for answers by developing a questionnaire that was later distributed to 17 federal entities that have real estate holdings or manage their own facilities. Responses were received from 14 agencies, including GSA, NASA, Air Force, Army, Tennessee Valley Authority, Army Corps of Engineers, and the Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Interior, Justice, Labor, Transportation, State, and Veterans Affairs.

The e-RealEstate Survey results offer useful feedback to the GSA Office of Real Property for determining the level of present and planned uses of Internet applications in federal government real estate organizations. The eight-question survey asks participants to rate the importance of such factors as including Internet strategies in the agency's performance plan and understanding senior management's position on Web-enabled systems.

Reviewing the Survey Results

The findings show that nearly half of the 127 employees who responded from the 14 agencies indicated that their entity does not consider the Internet and/or Web-enabled software to be part of its strategic or performance plan. Yet, 78 percent say senior management actively supports using Internet strategies for real estate activities. Sixty-one percent say senior management's use of technology for real estate is primarily as an operational tool to track their holdings.

"Federal agencies are using Web-enabled software for disparate functions, but there is little integration across the functions," says Goldstein. "The most frequently used Web-enabled software for real estate management is database management, leasing and lease administration, and property and construction management. Security functions were at the bottom of the list, but we expect to see this move up on the list of priorities."

Eighty-two percent of the respondents expect the Internet to have a large impact on the way the real estate group carries out its goals in the future. Another 54 percent say increased spending for Internet solutions will have a large impact on productivity.

"Agencies are using certain e-management systems for various functions, and it’s not surprising that there is little integration because many agencies have independent real property authority in the federal government," says Kaczmarczyk.

Understanding the Productivity Payback Model

GSA's interest in strategies for improving productivity prompted Kaczmarczyk's department to complete the "Productivity and the Workplace" study in 2001. As part of the study, a Productivity Payback Model was created.

"It's a human resources tool to help managers realize that people are their most important asset," says Kaczmarczyk. "It's foolish to pay them a lot of money and then skimp on investment in equipment and other things they need to do their work effectively. If employees have everything in their office to do their job, except for a copying machine, productivity will be impacted. If they have to walk down the hall to use the copying machine, that's dead time."

In this example, the Productivity Payback Model illustrates that it would be cost-effective to move the copying machine closer to the employees. The model is receiving widespread interest and is being used by GSA officials throughout the country. An executive in Kansas City used it to analyze whether it would be a reasonable investment to purchase new office furniture. Kaczmarczyk's department also used the model to assess the positive outcome of renovating its office space.

"Workplace investments can be paid back through increased productivity of employees or decreased worker turnover," says Kaczmarczyk. "The appropriate measures to evaluate the investment are to consider whether the project will result in increased employee satisfaction, higher productivity, and greater retention."

The spreadsheet model, built around the workplace concept, takes into consideration three areas that are important in facilities management: real estate, people, and technology tools. The model includes features for the people, places, and tools sections. For example, the people category includes work at home, work at telecenter, mass transit subsidies, and team-building training.

The places section includes such features as lighting upgrades, raised flooring, workplace redesign, and workplace renovation. The tools area includes IT upgrade, Internet access, cell phone, and laptop options.

The model can be used to determine whether certain investments are viable if the required change in productivity and/or turnover rate is realized. The user must enter the number of employees, average salary per employee, average compensation per employee, annual turnover rate, and annual turnover cost.

"Part of the interest in the model will be in benchmarking information, especially on the IT side, that's not readily available to FM people," notes Kaczmarczyk.

The Productivity Payback Model and its companion, the e-RealEstate Payback Model, were developed at a cost of less than $20,000, part of which was used to pay for consulting work done by Logistics Management Institute in McLean, Va.

The real estate model is the same as its predecessor, but it only concentrates on the tools component of the workplace. In particular, it assesses the payback of using software tools for FM and RE management functions by providing extensive benchmarking data on startup and ongoing costs for Web-enabled systems.

What is GSA Doing Now?

Paul Chistolini, deputy commissioner in the Public Buildings Service, explains that GSA is currently expanding its use of the Internet in RE and FM transactions by regularly using the Web to post its space needs and to send basic information—such as leases and clauses—between GSA associates and the private sector. FM requirements are also posted on the Web.

"Computer Integrated Facility Management is a major GSA effort to computerize all the space layouts of the spaces we own and occupy," says Chistolini. "By the end of this calendar year, we will have nearly 100 million square feet of owned space in this medium."

GSA is also using an automated tracking and billing system, which became operational in 1999, to send bills to its customers regarding their space holdings. The online information allows agencies to project their space costs into the future. Asset business plans are developed for each owned building to capture income and expenses associated with the facilities.

"The Occupancy Agreements tool is an automated package that develops agreements between GSA and its tenants," adds Chistolini. "It specifies the cost of space, extra charges, tenant allowances, and more. Comprizon.buy is our Web-based automated tool for listing the goods and services needed by GSA so that the private sector can respond with its offers."

GSA also uses Web-based listings to dispose of properties owned by federal agencies. All government procurements costing more than $25,000 have to be advertised. GSA offers an opportunity for contractors to sell goods to the government by going to its site, www.gsa.gov, and clicking the link marked Fed Biz Ops.

"Since the mid-1990s, GSA has invested more than $40 million in the development of Internet-based systems," says Chistolini. "They have enabled us to speed up the process, eliminate or reduce paperwork, and be more timely and responsive to our customers/tenants. These systems operate at an annual cost of approximately $12 million."

GSA is looking to the future by focusing its efforts on creating systems that are related to physical security, incident tracking, analysis, and other law enforcement areas.

"This will help us and our tenants make better decisions on the investment of our resources," says Chistolini.

By Tracy Carbasho