The U.S. General Services Administration has issued a Request for Qualifications seeking developers who can provide construction and development services in exchange for the GSA Regional Office Building and Cotton Annex, both located in Southwest Washington, D.C.
These services would be used to help GSA consolidate about 1,500 regional staff from the Regional Office Building into the GSA headquarters located at 1800 F St., NW and renovate up to three historic buildings at St. Elizabeths campus in Southeast Washington.
This action will allow GSA to leverage the value of outdated and underperforming properties to provide the government with efficient modern office space to better serve our current needs.
Last year, the agency issued a Request for Information (RFI), soliciting innovative ideas from the development community to help the agency gather possible development scenarios that provide cost savings, space, efficiency, and modernization solutions for federal agencies located at Federal Triangle South.
“The Federal Triangle South project is an opportunity to reexamine how the federal government uses these buildings and reassess how this space fits into the surrounding community,” said GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini. “This action will facilitate the city’s efforts to transform this precinct that is dominated by federal office buildings, into a mixed-use neighborhood that will both provide for a modern workplace for federal employees and create a vibrant, diverse, and special community of its own.”
GSA’s action supports the vision for Federal Triangle South identified by the National Capital Planning Commission’s Southwest EcoDistrict -- a sustainable community stretching from the National Mall to the Southwest Waterfront.
The vision includes a number of federal buildings and seeks to reduce costs by overhauling these outdated and underperforming assets, developing state-of-the-art green facilities, and encouraging mixed-use and improved infrastructure. The deadline for RFQ questions is April 17, 2014. Responses are due by May 22, 2014. The RFQ is now posted on Fed Biz Opps.
Reducing the Federal Footprint & Increasing Efficiency
The Obama Administration has set aggressive goals for using federal real estate assets more efficiently, and GSA has increased its efforts to help federal agencies identify underutilized properties and move them into the disposal process.
The Federal Triangle South RFQ is part of GSA’s ongoing effort to get underperforming federal facilities, such as the Cotton Annex, off of the government's books, while creating the greatest possible value for taxpayers. It would also allow GSA to consolidate its employees in the National Capitol Region into one building, the 1800 F St. NW headquarters. This would not only cut costs and reduce energy consumption, but also maximize workplace efficiencies by bringing employees into GSA’s Total Workplace program.
(http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/189811)
Related Stories
| Sep 8, 2011
USGBC: 30 Legislative ‘Wins For Green Building’ So Far In 2011
A mid-year report by the U.S. Green Building Council says that there have been “30 legislative wins for green building” across 22 states in 2011.
| Sep 8, 2011
Revised Building Codes Adopted After WTC Attacks Being Implemented
U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) code revision recommendations in the wake of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks are being implemented in new high-rise construction including One World Trade Center, the lead building of the new World Trade Center complex.
| Sep 8, 2011
New Sustainability Standard Addresses Disaster Resistance
To aid local governments to adopt high-performance green building codes, the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and the Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) have developed High Performance Building Requirements for Sustainability 2.0.
| Sep 8, 2011
Pilot ISO 50001 Implementations Report Big Energy Savings
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently published ISO 50001 to provide a recognized framework for integrating energy performance into management practices.
| Sep 8, 2011
USGBC Revises Energy Demand Response Credit
Originally launched in 2010, the revised and enhanced Demand Response Pilot Credit establishes guidelines that are anticipated to increase participation in automated energy demand response programs.
| Sep 8, 2011
Water Safety in Buildings Guide Published by World Health Organization (WHO)
This WHO book provides guidance for managing water supplies in buildings where people may drink water, use water for food preparation, wash, shower, swim or use water for other recreational activities or be exposed to aerosols produced by water-using devices, such as cooling towers.
| Sep 7, 2011
NFPA Fire & Life Safety Conference in December
Presentations on recent Fire Protection Research Foundation projects, how September 11th and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire affected high rise design, and a panel discussion on emerging code issues will be featured at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)’s Fire & Life Safety Conference on December 12-14 in Orlando, FL.The meeting will include more than 60 educational sessions in which participants can earn continuing education units (CEUs). Presentations will be led by NFPA staff experts and technical committee members, and will be organized in four tracks – building and life safety, detection and alarm, fire suppression, and codes and standards. For more information, visit www.nfpa.org/FLSCONF.
| Sep 1, 2011
Project Aims to Automate Code Compliance Assessment
FIATECH, a consortium of owners from the industrial, power, and retail markets that build large structures, launched a project this year to validate the use of automation technology for code compliance assessment, and to accelerate the regulatory approval process using building models. Long-term objectives include the development of an extensive, open-source rule set library that is approved by industry and regulatory bodies for use by technology developers and code officials.
| Sep 1, 2011
EPA Says Additional Lead Paint Cleaning Rules Not Necessary
The EPA has concluded that current Lead: Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program (LRRP) cleaning requirements and lead-safe work regulations are sufficient to protect the public from lead dust hazards. “Our members have been instrumental in contacting legislators to detail the detrimental impact of the current LRRP," says Richard Walker, American Architectural Manufacturers Association’s president and CEO. “This collective industry voice has prompted the EPA to make the responsible decision to refrain from adding further, unnecessary costs to homeowners under the current economic climate."http://www.aamanet.org/news/1/10/0/all/603/aama-commends-its-members-congress-for-vacating-lrrp-clearance-rule