Phone: (202) 501-2200
Fax:      (202) 501-2509

OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL OVERVIEW

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) provides legal services to GSA’s Service, Staff and Regional Offices. OGC consists of 133 attorneys and support staff in Central Office (70) and 11 Regional Offices (63) providing advice and assistance to our clients in a variety of areas: contracting (including counseling and litigation); procurement reform implementation; alternative dispute resolution (ADR); personnel; labor; finance; Congressional affairs; Freedom of Information Act (FOIA); Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA); and the Privacy Act. OGC is committed to providing value-added services to its clients through timely, client-focused lawyering.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

OGC is a staff office reporting directly to the Office of the Administrator. The General Counsel is the chief legal officer of the agency and is responsible for legally sound implementation of GSA’s mission responsibilities nationwide. Assisting the General Counsel in managing OGC are three Associate General Counsels who serve as division chiefs in Central Office and 11 Regional Counsels.

Real Property Division: The Real Property Division provides program and litigation support for all Public Buildings Service activities.

Personal Property Division: The Personal Property Division provides legal advice and litigation support to the Federal Supply Service, the Federal Telecommunications Service, the Information Technology Service and the Chief Information Officer.

General Law Division: The General Law Division provides program and litigation support to GSA's staff offices. The Ethics Law Staff within the General Law Division is responsible for developing and directing the agency's programs governing employee standards of ethical conduct.

Regional Operations: Regional attorneys focus on areas relating to their respective regional operations.

ACTIVITIES OF INTEREST

Alternative Dispute Resolution: Working with our clients, OGC has taken a leading role in promoting the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to resolve contract claims.

Procurement Reform: OGC actively participates in the development and implementation of procurement reform legislation including management of information technology (IT) resources.

Overhead Study: GSA’s Overhead Study determined that OGC provides value-added services to the business lines of GSA.

Management Reform: OGC has adapted the National Performance Review (NPR) initiatives to guide law office reform.

Resource for Reducing Protest: In furtherance of NPR Recommendation No. 6 (PROC06.6), OGC analyzed the causes of protests and prepared training resources for reducing protests.