“We want users to see work space not as overhead, but as a tool,” Peck says. ABPnet — an acronym for Asset Business Plan Network — reflects that kind of strategic thinking.
The U.S. government as a leading-edge indicator? The notion may seem farfetched, but that’s definitely the case with the U.S. General Service Administration (GSA at www.gsa.gov).
For the two straight years, the GSA has garnered prestigious Best Practice Awards from the International Development Research Council (IDRC), the world’s preeminent corporate real estate association. The organization won IDRC’s 1999 Best Practices Award for Decision Support for ABPnet, a Web-based application that applies asset management strategies rivaling the most forward-thinking institutional investors.
With the GSA’s sprawling portfolio, decision support is a mission-critical management concern. The GSA’s Public Buildings Service (PBS) handles asset management, design and construction, leasing, building management, and security for a portfolio that spans more than 346 million sq. ft. (31,140 sq. m.) in 8,300-plus public and private buildings, housing more than 1 million workers. It’s the largest U.S. public or private real estate inventory.
Combining information technology with the Internet, ABPnet provides anytime/anywhere tools that promote more informed, data-based decisions within that portfolio.
PBS Commissioner Robert A. Peck, a 2000 winner of a Site Selection Corporate Real Estate Leadership Award, spearheaded the creation of ABPnet. Peck came to his post on Dec. 26, 1995, with the avowed goal of “having the Public Buildings Service recognized as the best public real estate organization in the world.” ABPnet is another major step in achieving that goal.
Online Asset ‘Scoreboards’
The online tool, for example, provides a “scorecard” for each building, using standardized data to measure performance. The scorecard monitors how each asset’s actual performance stacks up against its performance benchmarks and tracks and quantifies customer service and satisfaction. That, in turn, promotes more proactive asset management by users, Peck explains.
“It helps measure performance, a major GSA goal, allowing people to see how the buildings they manage contribute to or detract from the overall portfolio, helping to establish quarterly operating targets, monitor performance and see immediately who the tenants are and how much rent they pay in specific buildings,” he says.
By displaying the PBS portfolio’s available space, the network also promotes more proactive future space planning.
Prioritizing Capital Investments
ABPnet also provides extensive data on each asset’s current physical condition, including future strategies to ensure effective operation (e.g., plans for maintenance and modernization). That online information facilitates more strategic decision-making at both the macro and micro levels, Peck explains.
“It tells us the projects that will be funded in a given year, so we can prioritize capital investments,” Peck says. “It points out discrepancies that need to be fixed and enables us to spot billing irregularities. And keeping this type of data current and accessible allows asset managers to justify the need for major repair and modernization projects.”
In addition, ABPnet also tracks local conditions in each market in which it has assets. That’s a significant concern, given that the GSA is a non-mandatory body that other agencies aren’t required to use.
“The site’s commercial real estate information enables us to measure our performance against comparables in the general marketplace,” says Pamela Wessling, PBS assistant commissioner for portfolio management. “We can also assess the profitability of each GSA asset and determine whether our costs and charges are consistent. Of course, all of this helps with long-term planning.”
ABPnet symbolizes a government real estate revolution that’s not yet over. The GSA is building consensus with other federal branches to extend its use of private-sector-minded strategies, including empowering agencies to retain profits from property sales or to trade properties with other agencies.
“The dedicated men and women of the GSA, many of whom could be making much more in the private sector, have demonstrated that you can bring private-sector thinking into the government,” Peck says.
And, ABPnet demonstrates, onto the Web.
