The U.S. General Services Administration has issued a Request for Qualifications seeking developers who can provide construction and development services in exchange for the GSA Regional Office Building and Cotton Annex, both located in Southwest Washington, D.C.Â
These services would be used to help GSA consolidate about 1,500 regional staff from the Regional Office Building into the GSA headquarters located at 1800 F St., NW and renovate up to three historic buildings at St. Elizabeths campus in Southeast Washington.
This action will allow GSA to leverage the value of outdated and underperforming properties to provide the government with efficient modern office space to better serve our current needs. Â
Last year, the agency issued a Request for Information (RFI), soliciting innovative ideas from the development community to help the agency gather possible development scenarios that provide cost savings, space, efficiency, and modernization solutions for federal agencies located at Federal Triangle South.
“The Federal Triangle South project is an opportunity to reexamine how the federal government uses these buildings and reassess how this space fits into the surrounding community,” said GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini. “This action will facilitate the city’s efforts to transform this precinct that is dominated by federal office buildings, into a mixed-use neighborhood that will both provide for a modern workplace for federal employees and create a vibrant, diverse, and special community of its own.”
GSA’s action supports the vision for Federal Triangle South identified by the National Capital Planning Commission’s Southwest EcoDistrict -- a sustainable community stretching from the National Mall to the Southwest Waterfront.Â
The vision includes a number of federal buildings and seeks to reduce costs by overhauling these outdated and underperforming assets, developing state-of-the-art green facilities, and encouraging mixed-use and improved infrastructure. The deadline for RFQ questions is April 17, 2014. Responses are due by May 22, 2014. The RFQ is now posted on Fed Biz Opps.
Reducing the Federal Footprint & Increasing Efficiency
The Obama Administration has set aggressive goals for using federal real estate assets more efficiently, and GSA has increased its efforts to help federal agencies identify underutilized properties and move them into the disposal process.
The Federal Triangle South RFQ is part of GSA’s ongoing effort to get underperforming federal facilities, such as the Cotton Annex, off of the government's books, while creating the greatest possible value for taxpayers. It would also allow GSA to consolidate its employees in the National Capitol Region into one building, the 1800 F St. NW headquarters. This would not only cut costs and reduce energy consumption, but also maximize workplace efficiencies by bringing employees into GSA’s Total Workplace program.
(http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/189811)
Related Stories
| Apr 18, 2014
Massachusetts Supreme Court clarifies building code liability issue on mixed-use projects
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled that distinct portions of a mixed-used building may be treated as distinct and different structures under the state building code.
| Apr 18, 2014
First international buildings among 700-plus certified by BOMA 360 Performance Program
In the first quarter of 2014, the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International certified 66 properties in the BOMA 360 Performance Program for commercial real estate markets across the U.S and, for the first time, abroad.
| Apr 16, 2014
OSHA proposes $2.3 million in fines against Olivet Management for exposing workers to asbestos and lead
Olivet Management LLC, a real estate development and management company, faces $2.3 million in proposed fines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
| Apr 10, 2014
Green Building Certification Institute partners with Well Building Institute on standard
The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI), which administers third-party certification for the LEED standard, and the Well Building Institute will collaborate to promote the WELL Building Standard.
| Apr 10, 2014
OSHA’s construction safety advisory committee invites input on construction regulations
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will hold a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health May 7-8, 2014, in Washington, D.C.
| Apr 10, 2014
ASTM’s International Standards in Building Codes now available in DVD and online
The compilation ASTM Standards in Building Codes contains more than 1,300 ASTM construction specifications, practices and test methods, and is now available in DVD and online.
| Apr 10, 2014
New California energy code requires building systems to be ready for demand response energy management
Starting in June, California’s latest version of its Title 24 building code kicks in, requiring several systems come with demand response capability.
| Apr 4, 2014
Green Building Initiative moves to include locally sourced materials in Green Globes
The Green Building Initiative group based in Portland, Ore., met with the Department of Agriculture on a plan to include locally sourced materials in its green building standards.
| Apr 4, 2014
White roofs outperform green roofs in reducing heat-island effect, says Lawrence Berkeley Lab
A new report from LBNL says that white roofs are three times more effective than green roofs at “cooling the globe.”
| Apr 4, 2014
ASHRAE standard aims for consistency in measuring building energy use
The standard answers such questions as: Should the measurements of a building’s area used in the equation to derive energy use per square foot be taken from the exterior dimensions or to the centerline of the wall? And, should storage spaces be included even though they are unoccupied?
