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Judiciary, GSA Begin Dialogue on Rent, Maintenance

"As courts downsize, we need to make sure that we actually are spending less," said Judge D. Brooks Smith, chair of the Judicial Conference's Space and Facilities Committee.

"As courts downsize, we need to make sure that we actually are spending less," said Judge D. Brooks Smith, chair of the Judicial Conference's Space and Facilities Committee.

The federal Judiciary and the General Services Administration (GSA) are launching an important new dialogue on space and rent management, at a time when the U.S. government’s landlord and one of its largest tenants are both grappling with a new era of downsizing.

The discussions, called the GSA-Judiciary Service Validation Initiative, will start Sept. 10, and focus on highly detailed topics, such as appraisal and classification methods for court buildings, reducing energy costs, and managing project deliveries and cost estimates.  The Space and Facilities Committee of the Judicial Conference endorsed this initiative at its December 2013 meeting.  It is the second prong of the Judiciary’s self-imposed space reduction initiative.   

Judiciary leaders say those details are essential to the federal courts’ single most pressing cost-containment initiative:  reducing the courts’ office space and cutting a massive $1 billion annual rent bill. They also plan to raise longstanding courthouse concerns about building maintenance.

Melanie Gilbert, chief of the Facilities and Security Office for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, said the service validation initiative has received support from the highest levels of the GSA.

“The national leadership of the GSA has been extremely responsive to our concerns,” Gilbert said. “This is an opportunity to make sure we have a shared, detailed understanding on billing, maintenance and other issues that affect court operations and cost tax dollars.”

In September 2013, the Judicial Conference approved a plan to reduce court space 3 percent by September 2018. A number of courts where no full-time judge sits have been closed, and probation offices and bankruptcy courts are beginning to leave leased offices, moving into unoccupied courthouse space.

On a parallel path, the GSA “is aggressively working to reduce the amount of leased space in our inventory, since leased space is more costly than government-owned space,” according to the agency’s five-year strategic plan. The GSA and Judiciary are partners in an innovative pilot project to redesign a probation office in Chicago, reducing space by more than 50 percent.

But in their respective roles as tenant and landlord, the courts and GSA have at times haggled over rent rates and building issues. Judge D. Brooks Smith, chair of the Space and Facilities Committee of the Judicial Conference, said that as court offices prepare to scale back, judges want assurances that the GSA won’t raise rent rates and leave the courts paying the same amount for a smaller space.  

 “This is a critical second prong of the Judiciary’s initiative to reduce space,” Smith said. “The courts are committed to being good fiscal stewards. But as courts downsize, we need to make sure that we actually are spending less, while getting the service needed to deliver justice effectively.”

Smith said court leaders also are preparing to raise maintenance and project management issues with GSA as part of this dialogue.

This summer, in coordination with the Space and Facilities Committee, Chief Judge Carol Bagley Amon of the Eastern District of New York solicited reports from all chief judges regarding their experiences with the GSA.  In response, many chief judges reported problems, including poor project management; difficulties in accurately estimating project costs; sluggish response to critical maintenance requests and need to improve overall management of buildings; failure to remedy heating and cooling issues; and lack of transparency in how overtime utilities are charged. 

Discussions over such concerns usually have taken place at the district and regional levels. By contrast, four judges from the Judicial Conference’s Space and Facilities Committee will oversee the new GSA-judiciary Service Validation Working Groups, and high-level staff from the Judiciary and GSA also will take part.

John Domurad, the Chief Deputy Clerk for the Northern District of New York who will be the judiciary lead on two groups, has negotiated with the GSA for a decade, after his court first questioned billings about common areas, such as hallways, parking areas and elevators. In the early days, negotiations had to go far up the ladder, both in the GSA and Judiciary, but they eventually led to tens of millions of dollars nationally in lowered rent bills.

“A primary goal is to establish open lines of communication, and get an appraisal process that is equitable to both tenant and landlord,” Domurad said. “We also need an open and independent forum for resolving issues. I’m encouraged, because this is the highest-profile these discussions have ever been.”

Gilbert said similar dialogue has earned success at the regional level, saying that communications and court satisfaction improved in the Ninth Circuit, after court staff began meeting regularly with GSA regional staff to identify and resolve differences.  She said she will continue to encourage other circuits to conduct similar routine meetings of circuit space committees and GSA regional leadership. 

She said a shared understanding on key real-estate issues will be important to federal courts as they undertake space-reduction projects. “Getting these details right,” Gilbert said,  “will assure courts across the country that they can reduce their space and still have the means to get their job done.”

Related Topics: Cost Containment