Facilities/Construction

  • Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald seems to be closing the deal several secretaries of Defense and at least one postmaster general couldn't, says Federal News Radio's Francis Rose in a new commentary.

    March 10, 2015
  • The Veterans Affairs Department says it is spending $24 million per year to maintain facility space it can't use. Some of the restrictions on closing them are political, some are local, so VA thinks it needs a BRAC of its own.

    March 06, 2015
  • Acting Administrator Denise Turner Roth wants to build on the past successes of the General Services Administration. This includes a new Total Workforce Initiative to grow talent development at the GS-7 through GS-11 levels.

    March 05, 2015
  • The budget the Defense Department is pushing for in 2016 will help the agency start to dig out of a big backlog of deferred maintenance on military bases. But Pentagon officials say even their own plan isn't a complete solution to deteriorating facilities, and if sequestration returns next year, things will likely get much worse. Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu has the details.

    March 03, 2015
  • The National Institutes of Health has big plans for its Bethesda Campus 500 pages of plans, to be specific. The plan includes everything from replacing buildings to clearing traffic congestion to changing landscaping.

    February 25, 2015
  • When Dan Tangherlini took over as the General Services Administration administrator in 2012, it was embroiled in the aftermath of the conference scandal. Stepping down after three years later, he reflects on how the agency has transformed itself.

    February 20, 2015
  • With half of all federal leases in the D.C. region expiring in the next five years and a "buyers market" in real estate, the federal government faces a huge cost-saving opportunity. A House round table discussion examined how the General Services Administration could take advantage of this "perfect storm".

    February 11, 2015
  • Energy has been a hot topic within DoD for the last several years, with each of the military services pledging to reduce their overall consumption and get at least 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.

    February 09, 2015
  • The Army's budget request details a branch in transition, from both a military and financial perspective.

    February 05, 2015
  • The new Installation and Mission Support Center will be based at Joint Base San Antonio, the Air Force announced this week - disappointing other contenders in the communities around Scott AFB in Illinois, Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia and Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio.

    January 26, 2015
  • The Homeland Security Department is falling short on securing federal buildings from cyber attack. Your office may be vulnerable to attacks that would keep you from getting in or out, or could make the climate in the building unbearable. It may even encounter other problems that could impact the ability of your agency to meet its mission. Mark Goldstein is director of Physical Infrastructure Issues at the Government Accountability Office. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he said building security is far more complicated than it used to be.

    January 19, 2015
  • Realignment won't change overall U.S. presence in Europe, but will close several facilities and add more than 1,000 personnel to support the new F-35.

    January 09, 2015
  • The Defense Department is likely to push for another round of Base Realignment and Closure in fiscal 2016, even though Congress has shot down the idea more than once. But there are no legal restrictions on closing bases overseas. Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu reports, DoD is moving forward to do just that.

    January 08, 2015
  • The National Park Service is putting in place 81 energy efficiency and water conservation projects in parks throughout the D.C. metropolitan area. Lisa Mendelson is the Acting Regional Director for the National Capital Region at the National Park Service. She joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with details the scope of the project that will install new intelligent bulbs, sprinklers and solar power across the region's hundreds of parks and landmarks in 2015.

    December 04, 2014
  • Commissioner Norman Dong sees the Public Buildings Services' role as helping other agencies cut administrative costs and creating more collaborative places to work.

    November 19, 2014