Relocation of Federal Agencies to Buzzard Point

The General Services Administration's (GSA) economic analyses of Federal office relocations to a leased building at Buzzard Point, Washington, D.C., have raised several questions.

GSA claimed in a news release thet $1 million would be saved by moving the Federal Energy Administration to Buzzard Point. This statement would have been more accurate if it had included references to such offsetting costs as the potential costs of subsidizing employee parking at Buzzard Point and the one-time cost of relocating the agency. GSA prepared an economic analysis comparing the cost of housing certain elements of the FEA at Buzzard Point with the cost of their present locations. Their analysis showed a combined savings of about $2.5 million over 10 years. Because this analysis contained calculating errors, GAO revised the analysis. The revised calculations showed a combined savings of $2.364 million over 10 years. The GSA analysis rested on the assumption that the GSA had a choice between leasing the Buzzard Point building and renewing the lease on the present facilities. In reality, there was no choice, since the Buzzard Point building was already leased.

Recommendations

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