U.S. federal agencies are under pressure to optimize their real estate portfolios, reduce costs, and create more efficient workplaces for employees navigating the return to office.
A new directive from the Department of Defense (DoD) requires daily occupancy tracking, pushing agencies to take decisive action in rightsizing their workspaces. This isn’t just a compliance mandate — it’s an opportunity to modernize federal buildings, cut operational costs, and improve the workplace experience for government employees.
But without the right tools, agencies risk making space-planning decisions based on outdated assumptions rather than real-time data.
Many federal agencies are maintaining office space that far exceeds actual usage. Some headquarters operate at less than 20% capacity, costing taxpayers millions in underutilized real estate. With return-to-office mandates emerging as the way forward for government organizations, agencies need a smarter approach to space planning — one that aligns with actual workforce behaviors.
Rightsizing starts with data-driven decision-making, and that requires real-time visibility into how workspaces are being used.
The role of office space management systems in rightsizing spaces
How government agencies can implement effective space planning strategies
As federal agencies optimize their real estate footprints, office space management systems are a critical tool for tracking and analyzing occupancy trends. Agencies can leverage these systems to automatically collect and process real-time space utilization data for insights into how employees use workspaces, when peak occupancy occurs, and where inefficiencies exist.
By identifying underutilized offices, meeting rooms, and shared workspaces, agencies can make evidence-based decisions about reconfiguring layouts or consolidating facilities to align with actual workforce needs.
To take action, agencies should:
- Utilize intelligent occupancy tracking solutions, such as Archibus’ space planning and management tools, to capture real-time space usage data rather than relying on estimates. By leveraging IoT-enabled sensors, automated occupancy monitoring, and space utilization analytics, agencies can gain accurate insights into how workspaces are used, enabling more strategic real estate decisions.
- Use AI-driven analytics to identify patterns in how employees use office space and adjust layouts accordingly.
- Adopt flexible space policies based on real-time demand, reallocating underutilized areas rather than maintaining excess space.
Addressing the return-to-office challenge
The emergence of return-to-office mandates presents new challenges for federal agencies. With work policies evolving, predicting how much space is truly needed is difficult. By leveraging space management tools, agencies can take a responsive approach to occupancy tracking, rather than making permanent decisions based on temporary trends.
For example, agencies can:
- Automate daily attendance patterns to determine which office locations are most in demand. Intelligent booking solutions such as Eptura’s will automatically assign and release spaces if they aren’t being used to constantly keep utilization information current.
- Adjust workspace layouts based on actual usage data, rather than assuming pre-pandemic configurations will still work.
- Use flexible seating arrangements to accommodate fluctuating in-office attendance with shift and hourly usage monitoring while reducing overall square footage needs.
- Conduct a space inventory by 3D mapping buildings to make strategic decisions about repurposing and creating multi-use spaces.
The return to the office is not a one-time shift — it’s an ongoing adjustment. Agencies that leverage data-driven space planning will be able to make informed decisions in real time and as mandates evolve.
Space planning challenges and solutions
Many government agencies lack the tools to accurately track space utilization, making it difficult to justify reconsolidation and leading to wasted resources and inefficiencies. The Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies (USE IT) Act of 2023 directly addresses this issue by requiring the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA) to implement standardized methodologies and advanced tracking technologies to assess building usage more accurately.
However, financial constraints remain a barrier — agencies have struggled to obtain reliable presence data, often resorting to workarounds like cellphone tracking. To ensure agencies can implement effective space planning systems, the White House has proposed giving the GSA greater financial flexibility, including access to Federal Buildings Fund revenue and authority to approve up to $10 million in funding without congressional approval.
To effectively meet these new standards and overcome the limitations of traditional tracking methods, agencies should look for scalable space management tools that eliminate guesswork by enabling them to:
- Identify underutilized spaces to make decisions about whether to reduce or repurpose real estate.
- Make evidence-based reconsolidation decisions that optimize space usage without disrupting operations.
- Shift from reactive to proactive space allocation, ensuring long-term efficiency and compliance with federal mandates.
- Enhance strategic portfolio management by aligning facilities with actual workforce demands and cost-saving initiatives.
How a government healthcare network optimized space to improve care and cut costs
A multi-facility government healthcare network wanted to deliver the best standard of care while stewarding taxpayer resources across millions of square feet of clinical facilities. Due to rising healthcare costs, the agency constantly looks to reduce community care costs without compromising quality.
After creating a space inventory with 3D building mapping, they monitored usage and identified some spaces that were only being used 30-50% of the time. Once they knew which areas were underutilized, they could make more informed decisions about how to reconfigure spaces to increase capacity as multipurpose treatment rooms.
For example, they identified a 330-square-foot room initially used for occasional X-rays, which often sat empty. They converted it into a multipurpose infusion treatment space, saving $8.3 million annually while also enhancing patient care by keeping services in-house.
By modeling the potential savings they could realize by improving utilization across their facilities, they found that a 2.5% increase in space usage could potentially save them up to $2 billion annually in outsourced medical care costs.
Read the customer success story.
The importance of rightsizing in space optimization strategies
Rightsizing government real estate portfolios goes beyond cost-cutting — it’s about establishing a more streamlined, agile, and fiscally responsible government.
In line with the Public Buildings Reform Board’s discovery of underutilized federal headquarter buildings, implementing space planning solutions can help organizations:
- Reevaluate space needs
- Avoid unnecessary lease renewals
- Make more informed decisions about consolidating, retrofitting, or offloading properties.
Thankfully, strategic rightsizing initiatives are already underway. To address wasted resources and unnecessary costs, the GSA is actively rightsizing the federal footprint, with plans to dispose of 23 properties totaling 3.5 million square feet, a move expected to save taxpayers $1 billion over the next decade.
By aligning office footprints with actual usage, governments can reduce their environmental impact, cut carbon emissions, and ensure that resources are allocated where they have the greatest public benefit.
The GSA’s role in deferred maintenance
The GSA is also taking “appropriate corrective action” to address the significant backlog of deferred maintenance in federal buildings based on recommendations made in a 2021 audit. It identified $280 million in duplicative costs due to errors in calculating deferred maintenance cost estimates and concluded that the agency’s national maintenance strategy was ineffective in reducing its deferred maintenance backlog.
Strategic space management plays a crucial role in reducing deferred maintenance backlogs by eliminating underutilized areas and optimizing federal facility portfolios. By deploying space management systems, agencies can significantly reduce the square footage requiring upkeep, freeing up resources to proactively address critical maintenance needs. This ensures that high-priority buildings remain safe, functional, and cost-effective while improving the overall efficiency and reliability of government operations.
A smaller, well-managed footprint enables smarter maintenance investments, extends asset longevity, and enhances the working environment for federal employees, ultimately supporting a more sustainable and fiscally responsible approach to facility management.
Creating smarter, more responsive federal facilities
For government leaders, the challenge is clear: How can you harness these tools to drive meaningful change in your agency?
The directive to make better use of federal spaces is a catalyst, but proper execution is where real change happens. Agencies have the opportunity now to improve their operational reliability by prioritizing resources where they have the greatest impact.
As they consolidate and repurpose space based on actual utilization data through modern, scalable space planning tools, they improve energy efficiency, reduce maintenance burdens, and create a more sustainable long-term real estate strategy. By shifting from a reactive to a proactive facility management approach, government organizations can ensure that every square foot of workspace serves a purpose and delivers value to the public.
Get your copy of our e-book on rightsizing government real estate for more strategies to manage your facilities securely and efficiently.
By Jonathan Davis
Jonathan writes about asset management, maintenance software, and SaaS solutions in his role as a digital content creator at Eptura. He covers trends across industries, including fleet, manufacturing, healthcare, and hospitality, with a focus on delivering thought leadership with actionable insights. Earlier in his career, he wrote textbooks, edited NPC dialogue for video games, and taught English as a foreign language. He holds a master's degree in journalism.
