GSA Regions
Most of GSA's work is done through its 11 regional offices, where GSA provides housing and real estate services, supplies, telephones and telecommunications, fleet services, and property management for Federal installations in the regions and around the world. Following are some of the highlights of regional activities in FY 1997.
New England Region
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
Robert J. Dunfey, Jr.
Regional AdministratorThe New England Region, based in Boston, has 250 employees. Its real estate inventory includes 125 Government buildings and 237 leased buildings that house 30 agencies with 31,600 employees.
Two new courthouses underway in the region will house U.S. Supreme Court Justices. The Warren B. Rudman U.S. Courthouse in Concord, NH, dedicated in September, houses the U.S. District and Magistrate Courts, as well as chambers for the U.S. Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter. The Design Award-winning U.S. Courthouse in Boston has been widely acclaimed although it is not due to open until 1998. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will have chambers there.
The Property Disposal team based in the region, working with GSA's Northeast and Caribbean Region, initiated disposition of historic Governors Island in New York Harbor. The island was a strategic military site for 300 years until the Coast Guard vacated its North Atlantic headquarters on the island in FY 1997. In other Property Disposal activities, an Air Force facility in Columbus, OH, was sold to a local business for $15.3 million, and $6 million was generated through Government-Owned Real Estate (GORE) auctions of 500 properties.
A regional Can't Beat GSA Leasing team awarded a $50 million lease contract for 104,527 square feet in Concord, MA, where the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers will relocate from a Federal Center that is slated for disposal.
FTS in the region facilitates the new Information Technology Advisory Council for Greater Boston & New England. Representatives from 22 agencies participate in this Council, which was created to promote partnering for cost-effective IT solutions.
Northeast & Caribbean Region
New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands
Robert Martin
Acting Regional AdministratorThe Northeast and Caribbean Region is based in New York City. With 889 employees, the region manages 101 Government buildings and 384 leased locations, as well as a 14,000-vehicle fleet. GSA houses 42 agencies that employ 72,871 Federal workers in the region.
Several teams in the region won prestigious national awards in
FY 1997. FSS received the President's Quality Achievement Award. The White House Closing the Circle Award went to a PBS/EPA project to combat indoor air pollution and reduce the risk of adverse reactions to cleaning solvents. Three PBS teams won the Vice President's Hammer Award, for (1) disposal of environmentally sensitive properties, (2) improving energy conservation, and (3) helping develop a handbook on domestic violence.
The FSS Office Supplies and Paper Products Commodity Center introduced task-order purchasing to lower and stabilize the price of recycled copier paper Orders for recycled paper increased by 144% after GSA announced it would provide recycled paper for less than "virgin" paper. Over 3,000 Federal offices now order recycled paper from FSS.
FTS prepared to award the first Metropolitan Area Acquisition contract for low-cost local telecommunications services in New York City, one of the most competitive telephone exchange markets in the country, with 36,000 Federal users.
In FY 1997, the region's PBS partnered with Property Disposal in the New England Region on disposition of Governors Island, the U.S. Coast Guard's historic base in New York Harbor, considered the most valuable real estate to come on the market in recent years.
The region commissioned three artists to create interior artworks for the Federal Office Building at 290 Broadway in New York City. The three works, selected in accordance with GSA's Art-in-Architecture procedures, will honor the adjacent National Historic Landmark African Burial Ground.
Mid Atlantic Region
Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia
Rafael Borras
Regional AdministratorWith headquarters in Philadelphia, the Mid-Atlantic Region has 1,338 employees, a real estate inventory of 147 Government buildings and 587 leased locations, and a 19,200-vehicle fleet. The region houses 156 agencies with 94,796 employees. The region's Property Management Division provides excess furniture and furnishings to special committees and task forces as needs arise. In FY 1997, they provided over 4,500 pieces of excess furniture for use by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
The FSS National Furniture Center, based in the region, won the Vice President's Hammer Award in FY 1997 for its Packaged Room Concept. The program, developed in partnership with the Department of Defense, allows a furniture customer to place an order for an entire room of color-coordinated furniture with a single purchase order. This new program saves thousands of dollars in administrative costs and provides quality living environments for U.S. military personnel throughout the world.
Expanding the FSS Virtual Store concept, the region opened new GSA Express stores at the Naval Base in Norfolk, VA, and McGuire Air Force Base in Wrightstown, NJ, along with virtual stores throughout Germany. The Norfolk store is co-located with "Uncle Sam's Club" a Navy retail store, in which GSA and the Virginia Industries for the Blind are partners. High-demand GSA services and products can be purchased there; others can be ordered through GSA Advantage!TM, telephone or computer.
Southeast Sunbelt Region
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, TennesseeCarole A. Dortch
Regional AdministratorThe Southeast Sunbelt Region is headquartered in Atlanta and has 1,233 employees. It manages 188 Government buildings, 1,154 leased locations and 29,000 vehicles. The region houses 45 agencies with 131,648 employees.
This region will be the hub of GSA construction activity in the next few years. The region awarded a contract for construction of a U.S. District Courthouse in Montgomery, AL, connected to the historic Frank M. Johnson Federal Building and Courthouse. The site plan and design will acknowledge the historical significance of the downtown Montgomery Bus Station, the site of several important events associated with the civil rights movement.
The Atlanta Federal Center, the largest Federal building outside the Washington, DC, area, was dedicated in October 1996, and now houses 6,000 employees of 22 Federal agencies. The complex incorporates a 24-story skyscraper, a mid-rise building and two historic buildings in the Five Points area of downtown.
The GSA fleet in the region took over full responsibility for disposal of its own vehicles and now controls its own vehicle auctions. The new program reduces disposal time by about a month, allowing FSS to hold more frequent auctions in more places. It saves about $1.2 million a year and provides a quicker return to the General Supply Fund.
Great Lakes Region
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin
William C. Burke
Regional AdministratorThe Great Lakes Region, based in Chicago, has 1,050 employees. Its real estate inventory includes 160 Government buildings and 762 leased locations. The region houses 185 agencies with 90,000 employees and manages an 11,700-vehicle fleet.
A new high-tech U.S. Courthouse in Minneapolis was dedicated in June 1997, becoming the largest Federal courthouse constructed in the region since the 1960s. The City donated the building's 2-acre site and participated in the planning process for the award-winning landscaped plaza.
Construction was started on a new Federal courts building in Hammond, IN, and on the first Federal courthouse to be built in Cleveland in nearly a century. Design work began for expansion of court facilities at the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse in Cincinnati and elevator replacement got underway in a continuing renovation program at the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago.
GSA is upgrading two major facilities for Defense Department agencies. PBS completed renovation of the Battle Creek Federal Center, a former Army hospital in Michigan where former U.S. Senator Bob Dole and other World War II veterans recovered from their injuries. Renovation of 77,000 square feet of office space in three buildings at the Center will allow the Defense Logistics Agency to consolidate worldwide cataloging operations for military equipment and spare parts and to make room for 450 new personnel. The region also began a $100 million renovation project at the 1.6 million-square foot Emmett J. Bean Center near Indianapolis, home of a major Defense Finance and Accounting Center.
With little more than a day's notice, PBS leasing specialists found 25,000 square feet of office space-free-for the Federal emergency teams brought in to help victims of flooding in Minnesota.
GSA held interactive "Internet Surfing with GSA" workshops for about 700 Federal employees in six cities around the region, demonstrating how agencies are using the Internet as a management tool for research, electronic commerce, and improved communications.
The Heartland Region
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska
Woody Overton
Regional AdministratorThe Heartland Region, based in Kansas City, has 978 employees. It manages 94 Government buildings and 301 leased locations that house approximately 50 agencies and 59,000 employees, as well as a 6,620-vehicle fleet.
The Heartland Region is the site of the GSA Tools and Appliances Center, the national and international Household Goods Program, and the FSS National Customer Service Center. In addition, one of GSA's two Finance Centers, which provides payroll services for approximately 50 independent agencies and commissions, is located in the region.
In FY 1997, The Heartland Region awarded its third largest lease in Kansas City, MO, to consolidate nine Department of Agriculture (USDA) offices currently housed in two Federally owned and eight leased locations. Workspace for about 1,800 USDA employees will be consolidated into 310,000 square feet in January 2000. The consolidation will save taxpayers about $500,000 annually.
In St. Louis, Kansas City, MO, and Omaha, new courthouses were located in downtown areas to serve as catalysts for urban development. In Kansas City, KS, and Kansas City, MO, leased facilities were located on downtown sites chosen by the cities themselves.
The Heartland team that developed the new Federal Acquisition Service for Technology (FAST) Program-which provided $552 million of technology contract support nationwide in FY 1997-received the Vice President's Hammer Award. Another Hammer-winning team developed a multi-region elevator contract that saves almost $5 million a year by consolidating 138 contracts in five. The Region also won a White House Closing the Circle award for recycling, and a Department of Interior Water Conservation Award.
Greater Southwest Region
Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico,Oklahoma, Texas
John C. Pouland
Regional AdministratorThe Greater Southwest Region, based in Fort Worth, has 1,324 employees. It houses 46 agencies with 88,300 employees in 306 Government buildings and 748 leased locations, and manages a 36,500-vehicle fleet.
GSA is donating the site of the former Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building to the Oklahoma City Memorial Foundation for a memorial to the victims and survivors of the April 19, 1995 bombing that killed 168 people there. GSA's Design Excellence program was used to select the architect/engineer for a new campus facility a few blocks away for many agencies that had been housed in the Murrah building.
GSA's General Products Center in the region teamed with the Department of Energy to form a basic ordering agreement for acquiring chillers to cool Federal buildings. This first-of-its-kind agreement reduces procurement time from a year or more to approximately two months. It could earn up to $2.5 billion in savings from reduced energy use, recovery of ozone-depleting substances and acquisition efficiencies.
The region began disposal of 450 Minuteman II missile launch facilities, 45 launch control facilities, and approximately 25,000 easements at Air Force bases in North and South Dakota and Missouri. Sites are sold to adjacent landowners at fair market value.
An interagency real estate team, with members from PBS Property Disposal received the Vice President's Hammer Award for streamlining the process for disposal and off-site removal of excess Federal structures and facilities in Albuquerque, NM.
The new U.S. Courthouse in Shreveport, LA, was named the International Government Building of the Year by the Building Owners and Managers Association.
Rocky Mountain Region
Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming
Polly B. Baca
Regional AdministratorThe Rocky Mountain Region, based in Denver, has a workforce of 413 employees. It manages 220 Government buildings and 371 leased properties that house 27 agencies with 58,100 employees.
GSA's Federal Protective Service (FPS) contributed logistics, planning and security for the Oklahoma City bombing trials in Denver. Security was greatly increased in and around the Byron Rogers Federal Building/Courthouse, where Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder in the 1995 bombing. An integral part of the law enforcement team assembled for the trial, FPS provided access and protection for the news media and employees who worked in the Federal Building. They were required to wear special credentials developed for this purpose. FPS issued 8,000 smart cards for identification using this new badging system.
The region also supported the G-8 Summit of world leaders in June. It provided meeting space-complete with translator booths-in a converted library reading room, temporary offices with 200 workstations, logistical support and security services. GSA Regional Counsel staff provided legal advice and assistance and GSA volunteers worked at the Summit's media headquarters.
FPS built the first of four security "megacenters" in the region, where FPS personnel monitor security cameras and other sensing devices at Federal facilities in 17 states. When they detect a break-in or other illegal activity at a building, they alert local police immediately.
The region broke ground for the U.S. Geological Survey's new National Water Quality Laboratory in Lakewood, CO, in FY 1997. This $22 million project, the largest GSA award to a minority contractor, is scheduled for completion in 1999.
Pacific Rim Region
Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Trust Territories, American Samoa, U.S. installations in the Far East
Kenn N. Kojima
Regional AdministratorThe Pacific Rim Region is based in San Francisco. With a workforce of 1,315, the region houses approximately 45 agencies that employ 95,060 Federal workers. It has a real estate inventory of 178 Government buildings and 838 leased buildings, and manages a 25,164-vehicle fleet.
U.S. courthouses were under design or construction in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Santa Ana and Sacramento, many of them winners of GSA's Design Awards. The new full-service border station facility at Calexico, CA, is another Design Award winner.
The Oakland (CA) Federal Building, also a Design Award winner, was cited for exemplifying GSA's civic role in activating urban downtowns and is credited with spurring development in the surrounding area. Its "smart maintenance" systems, controlled by a single computer in the basement, has attracted internetional attention.
In San Francisco, the region completed renovation and state-of-the-art seismic upgrades of two historic "living landmark" buildings, the classic U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. Custom House, which had been structurally weakened by a 1989 earthquake.
Enhancing its reputation as a facilitator between the Department of Defense and the community, the region assisted with six military base closures. Regionally, FSS and FTS sought to expand their markets in U.S. military installations in Hawaii and the Far East.
The region opened the first GSA Access Store, an interactive environment in which customers can learn about GSA products and services and use the latest technology to access GSA and GSA suppliers. They can also buy supplies and equipment off the shelf.
Northwest/Arctic Region
Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington
L. Jay Pearson
Regional AdministratorThe Northwest/Arctic Region is GSA's largest region, covering 815,000 square miles. Based in Auburn, WA, near Seattle, the region has 569 employees. It houses 85 Federal agencies with 36,000 employees in 175 Government-owned and 393 leased buildings. The region also manages a 12,844 vehicle-fleet.
The region dedicated a new border station at Point Roberts, WA, in FY 1997. Constructed by a minority contractor under the 8a program, the $4 million facility is in a unique location not connected to the contiguous U.S. In Portland, OR, construction was completed on the $128 million, 17-story Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, winner of several design awards.
The FSS Paints and Chemicals Center was restructured to encourage inventory managers to use individual initiative in determining competitive selling prices, taking into consideration inventory stocking ceilings and backorder constraints. The Center has reduced the inventory it keeps on hand from $40 million to $8 million, and achieved savings on inventory costs.
Revenues for FTS Information Technology Solutions programs increased in FY 1997. Growth was concentrated in FISSP revenues for high-end database development services, and rapid start-up of the FAST program for procurement of off-the-shelf computer technology. FTS Network Services' cost reductions led to $1.2 million in savings for telephone customers.
A GSA/IRS team received the Vice President's Hammer Award for reinventing the IRS process for redeeming real estate that has been foreclosed. Under the improved process, GSA provides real estate and marketing advice, recommends properties to redeem and handles the sale. Redemptions increased from $23,000 to $1.4 million over two years.
National Capital Region
Washington, DC area
Nelson B. Alcalde
Regional AdministratorThe National Capital Region manages more historic Federal buildings and houses more Federal employees than any other region. With a workforce of 1,849, a real estate inventory of 186 Government buildings and 459 leased buildings, the region houses 91 Federal agencies with 305,012 employees.
The National Capital Region (NCR) became a Customer Service Reinvention Laboratory in FY 1997, changing the way it operates to focus on "thrilling" GSA's customers. Seven agency liaisons are assigned to facilitate cross-functional service delivery, improve communications with customers, and be customer advocates, while building excellent long-term relationships. As a reinvention lab, NCR can deviate from all policies and procedures not legally mandated, to be responsive to its customers.
The Ronald Reagan Federal Building and International Trade Center welcomed its first tenants in FY 1997. The 3.1 million square-foot building, which completes the Federal Triangle complex in the heart of the capital, will be dedicated in 1998. This year, NCR dedicated the new Internal Revenue Service headquarters in New Carrollton, MD. It consolidates more than 30 IRS offices, housing half the IRS staff in a single building.
NCR established a partnership with the District of Columbia in FY 1997 to spur revitalization of the nation's capital. The region agreed to lease space in DC's historic John Wilson District Building, making renovation affordable for the District. The region also repaired roofs and boilers in DC public schools, donated computers to the public schools and provided support for the DC Police Department.
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