The findings come as agencies begin using occupancy data to shrink their real estate portfolios under the 2025 Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act. The law sets a minimum 60% utilization rate and, beginning after the 2027 reporting cycle, directs GSA and the Office of Management and Budget to act on space that remains below that threshold for two consecutive years, subject to exceptions.

When GSA released the first government-wide data in March, Administrator Edward Forst called the figures “imperfect” but said: “With the problem defined, we can act: increase transparency, cut waste, and concentrate on a stronger core.” GSA planned to reduce excess space, dispose of vacant buildings and co-locate agencies.

The new audit identified 72 partially vacant GSA-controlled properties—55 owned buildings and 17 leased locations—that reported utilization at or above 60% but could fall below that threshold if they included unoccupied space.

For example, one unidentified California federal building's utilization rate would fall from 68% to 57% if it included 33,482 sq ft of vacant space. A Michigan lease would drop from 78% to 58% after including 5,737 vacant sq ft.

“It’s definitely a concern,” David Marroni, a director in GAO’s Physical Infrastructure team, tells ENR. But he says agencies do not need to wait for perfect utilization data before moving ahead with clearly underused properties. “Utilization data shouldn’t be the sole factor in deciding on any property,” he says, citing location, mission needs and relocation costs among other considerations.

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Concerns about the measurements predate the report. Andrew Heller, acting commissioner of GSA’s Public Buildings Service, told a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee in June that the initial figures were “not necessarily seeing an apples-to-apples comparison” because the methodology counted auditoriums, conference rooms, libraries and other spaces where employees would not ordinarily be expected to work throughout the day.

Agency officials told federal auditors that concentrating more employees in older buildings could require moving walls, adding workstations and upgrading or replacing mechanical, electrical, plumbing and heating and cooling systems.

“A key other factor is what’s it going to cost you to renovate the space versus moving to another location,” Marroni says. A high deferred-maintenance backlog or difficulty reconfiguring a historic property could favor relocation, he says, while a building’s location or specialized features could justify the higher cost of renovation.

GSA itself is undertaking that type of consolidation. The agency temporarily relocated its headquarters while renovating 1800 F St. NW in Washington, where GSA and the Office of Personnel Management are scheduled to consolidate in 2028. The $239-million project includes interior construction and electrical, HVAC and plumbing upgrades, and GSA plans to dispose of the building currently housing the two agencies after they move.

Marroni says contractors should expect more federal real estate activity as agencies reduce their footprints. “They should expect the number of consolidations and property disposals to increase over the next several years,” he says. “There may also be an increase in the number of renovations of federally owned space.”

Public Buildings Reform Board member Nick Rahall told Federal News Network in July that the board had encountered “leaking roofs, unsafe elevators and flooded basements,” as well as air-handling systems dating to the 1940s. “The government does not appropriate enough money to renovate all the buildings that the government owns,” he said.

Agencies have already begun reducing space using the new occupancy information. The Dept. of Homeland Security identified at least 15 space-reduction projects totaling 95,000 sq ft, including consolidation of several Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency locations around Washington, D.C., which it estimates will save $350 million over 20 years. The Dept. of Veterans Affairs used the data to help support a nearly 150,000-sq-ft lease reduction.

The audit also found problems that can push utilization figures in the opposite direction. At State Dept. headquarters, the USE IT Act methodology produced a 55% utilization rate compared with 87% under the agency’s workstation-based measure, which excludes such areas as lobbies, cafeterias, conference rooms and libraries.

GAO recommended that GSA provide Congress with building-level utilization information that accounts for vacant space and improve the consistency of agency reporting. GSA did not agree or disagree with the recommendations and said it would consider them with OMB.

Marroni says agencies should continue improving utilization data but need not wait to act on clearly excess property. “There’s still enough information already in existence to move forward and start disposing of properties they don’t need,” he says.