GSA wants $24.9M for acquisition workforce

The administrator of the General Services Administration today told a House appropriations subcommittee that her agency needs $675 million for fiscal 2011, an $80 million increase from last year, to carry out the Obama administration's governmentwide programs.

GSA Administrator Martha Johnson requested $24.9 million for the Federal Acquisition Workforce Initiatives Fund, a new appropriation, she told the House Appropriations Committee’s Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee. The new fund seeks to improve federal contracting by spending on the civilian acquisition workforce.

The fund would go for efforts to fill gaps in developing the acquisition workforce and would support the increases in the workforce other agencies requested in the president’s fiscal 2011 budget proposal, Johnson testified.

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In addition, GSA's request for the Federal Buildings Fund would increase total budget authority by $25 million, Johnson said.

The largest increase from last year though is for the Office of Governmentwide Policy’s operations, including its Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings, Johnson said.

The $25 million increase would be primarily made up of the $21 million increase for modernization and upgrades to governmentwide information systems to improve reliability and transparency. Johnson said GSA plans to use the money to increase how much the systems can handle, improve data quality, and decrease operating costs in the future for multiple federal systems.

GSA has proposed $321 million for the traditional operating costs for its Office of Governmentwide Policy, its many governmentwide programs, its Office of Inspector General, the Electronic Government Fund, the pensions and office staffs of former presidents, and the Federal Citizen Services Fund, Johnson said.

Overall, GSA’s budget includes a total of $675 million in net budget authority, 2.8 percent of the agency’s total planned obligations of $24 billion, Johnson said.

The majority of GSA's funding is provided through reimbursements from federal customer agencies, for purchases of goods and services or as rent paid to the government’s landlord.

“Your approval of GSA’s budget request for fiscal 2011 is a critical step toward helping GSA to achieve our mutual goals of economic recovery, sustainability and open government,” Johnson testified.