Freeze the Footprint

Consistent with Section 3 of the OMB Memorandum M-12-12, Promoting Efficient Spending to Support Agency Operations and OMB Management Procedures Memorandum 2013-02, the “Freeze the Footprint” policy implementing guidance, all CFO Act departments and agencies shall not increase the total square footage of their domestic office and warehouse inventory compared to the FY 2012 baseline.

AOC is a Legislative Branch agency and, as a result, is not subject to the “Freeze the Footprint” disclosures. The AOC’s mission includes managing a unique real estate portfolio that includes office and historic buildings on Capitol Hill for the Legislative and Judicial Branches. Although it is not required to comply with the “Freeze the Footprint” disclosures, AOC presents (Table 53) its total square footage for the current year and its FY 2012 baseline. Total square footage includes all facility space that AOC is responsible for. This portfolio includes a wide variety of real property which reflects AOC’s diverse mission: office space, committee rooms, inventory storage, exhibit space, a conservatory, a plant production facility, a visitor center, two gift shops, a power plant, tunnels for transportation and steam delivery, multiple book storage modules, a summer house and others.

As shown, the square footage increased over this baseline. This is primarily a result of the February 2013 lease of approximately 257,000 square feet of building space from the General Services Administration in the Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr. Federal Building. This space will support the U.S. House of Representatives and include swing space for the renewal of the Cannon House Office Building. This space will provide offices, conference rooms, administrative functional areas and support spaces.

To reduce the costs associated with real property, AOC has implemented a number of key initiatives. These include reducing overall energy usage by 25.5 percent in FY 2014, reducing water usage, managing overtime hours, cancelling contracts and bringing the work in-house, making improvements to building automation systems by installing direct digital controls and many others.

TABLE 53: AOC Square Footage, See Full Report, Page 155