The Trump administration has given federal agencies until mid-April to submit plans outlining where their offices will relocate outside of the nation’s capital.
On Wednesday, the heads of all departments and agencies were directed to submit “any proposed relocations of agency bureaus and offices from Washington, D.C. and the National Capital Region to less-costly parts of the country” by April 14.
The directive was part of guidance sent by leaders in the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management, outlining how to comply with Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency “workforce optimization” executive order, which promised to eliminate “waste, bloat, and insularity.”
To accomplish this, Elon Musk and DOGE have implemented massive staff cuts, slashed contracts, and begun plans to reduce the federal government’s real estate holdings in D.C.
There was no mention of the likely massive costs associated with such moves, or the inefficiency and potential funding drain of selling property or paying off leases only to replace it with other purchases or leases.
In an executive order issued on Wednesday, the administration directed agency heads to provide the General Services Administrator with a “complete and accurate inventory” of real property within seven days, followed by identification of all termination rights for existing leases within 30 days.
The order requires the Administrator of General Services to submit a plan to dispose of government-owned property that has been “deemed by the agency as no longer needed” within 60 days.
During a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Trump mentioned the number of Education Department buildings in the nation’s capital.
“You go around Washington and see all these buildings with the Department of Education,” the man in charge said. “We want to bring education back to the states, where it belongs. Iowa should provide education. Indiana should manage its own education. You’ll see a significant increase in education.
Some argued that ending government leases in the city would have far-reaching economic consequences.
Diana Parks, chairman of the National Federal Development Association, told The Washington Post that it “would be devastating to most commercial landholders in the D.C. market.”
She kept going: “For all of it to hit the market in a short time, it’s just a supply-and-demand issue that’ll drive down the value of that real estate considerably.”
The deadline for proposed relocations marked the second phase of the OMB and OPM’s two-phase guidance. The first phase called for agency heads to submit “reorganization plans” that “focus on initial agency cuts and reductions” by March 13.
