Martha Johnson's statement on GSA's FY 2011 budget request

PREPARED STATEMENT FOR GSA ADMINISTRATOR MARTHA JOHNSON

FY 2011 Budget Request for the General Services Administration

House Appropriations Committee

Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government

AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

Chairman Serrano, Ranking Member Emerson, and Distinguished Members of the Subcommittee:

My name is Martha Johnson and I am the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA). Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today to discuss GSA’s fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget request. I would also like to thank you personally for your continued support of GSA through the Appropriations process. The funds you provided to GSA in the Recovery Act and in our FY 2010 Appropriation are being dedicated to some of the most pressing problems our nation is facing: stimulating the economy through job creation, reducing the Federal government’s carbon footprint and increasing energy security, and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and transparently. 

Today, GSA is better positioned than ever to meet the President’s objectives and help other Federal agencies to deliver a “government that works” for the American people. Our government-wide reach makes us uniquely qualified to help fulfill the President’s performance and management agenda. GSA provides workspace for over one million Federal employees across the U.S. and offers over 12 million products and services to Federal agencies in locations around the world. The agency is responsible for government-wide administrative policy, and we have demonstrated leadership in opening government through a variety of web sites and new media tools. 

Our mission is to support other Federal agencies in their missions. Here, our challenge is to provide our Federal customer agencies with the solutions and expertise that they need in order to deliver a truly modern government. We must increase trust by increasing transparency, maximize our social and environmental benefits by focusing on sustainability, and improve our business practices by promoting innovation and collaboration. 

As Administrator, my vision is to transform GSA into an innovative change agent for government. We will change the way we acquire, manage, and dispose of our assets to improve the environmental and financial performance of the government. We will accelerate our efforts to open government through our government-wide policies and expertise in citizen engagement and collaboration. GSA will offer new, sustainable products and services to our customers and in so doing will influence their behaviors to reduce consumption, reduce waste, and improve efficiency and effectiveness.

We will make this transformation and improve our performance so that GSA is known across government for three things: innovation, customer intimacy, and operational excellence. We have demonstrated our commitment to improving these three dimensions of performance by embedding them in our new mission statement and in our new strategic goals. Our new mission statement asserts that:

GSA's mission is to use expertise to provide innovative solutions

for our customers in support of their missions and by so doing foster an

effective, sustainable, and transparent Government for the American people.

We have re-defined our strategic goals, to guide us as we transform GSA and move forward to carry out our new mission.   

Our first strategic goal is innovation. GSA must become an innovation engine for the Government. We have the opportunity to use our government-wide perspective and expertise, our centralized procurement and property management role, and our unique statutory authorities to move Government forward.  We have already made significant contributions to Federal sustainability by deploying hybrid-electric vehicles in the Federal motor vehicle fleet and by testing cutting-edge, green technologies in Federal buildings. We are making significant strides in testing cutting-edge information technology, employing collaborative tools, and pressing for new practices, including Cloud Computing, to improve the effectiveness of Government at a lower cost to taxpayers. 

The second way we will improve our performance is by enhancing customer intimacy.  We cannot succeed unless our customers succeed. Therefore, we must seek a deep understanding of and resonance with our customers and their missions. GSA must be a membrane between Government and industry. We must develop connections between customer requirements and industry solutions.  Instead of filtering this information, our membrane must facilitate and accelerate the flow of data, information, and knowledge between GSA and our Federal agency customers, industry, and the public. Transparency, participation, and collaboration are both the tools and the outcome of enhanced customer intimacy.   

GSA already has some impressive accomplishments in Open Government: We make government contract award data easily available to the public and searchable through our Federal Procurement Data System and through our support of USASpending.gov. We have long provided a single point of access to a variety of government information and services through our operation of the award-winning web portal of the U.S. Government, USA.gov and GobiernoUSA.gov. More recently, GSA deployed a web-based public dialogue tool that Federal agencies can use to collaborate with the public on various initiatives. Within 60 days of launch, 22 of 24 major agencies had used this public dialogue tool to conduct at least one public dialogue. 

GSA’s third strategic goal is operational excellence.  Using our expertise to deliver meaningful and useful solutions for our customers, our industry partners, and our employees -- day over day, week over week, year over year -- is operational excellence. We will strive for such performance excellence by seeking continuous improvement in our operations. GSA intends to re-engineer and reverse-engineer our business processes to ensure that they are able to perform with reliability, efficiency, economy, and effectiveness. 

The Commissioner of the Public Buildings Service (PBS), Bob Peck, has already started the transformation in PBS by introducing the concept of “global project management” which creates integrated, cross-functional teams, each of which will be dedicated to a single project for the life of that project. This approach replaces the traditional process of passing customers through multiple PBS organizations as a project proceeds from requirements development, to contracting, and into construction management. “Global project management” integrates and focuses our resources, thereby delivering “operational excellence”: While the obvious advantage is increased performance, the bonus is that such techniques wring inefficiencies out of the system, reducing costs and surfacing further inefficiencies. This self-reinforcing loop frees up more and more of our customers’ resources to dedicate to fulfilling their missions. 

These new strategic goals of innovation, customer intimacy, and operational excellence clearly link GSA operations and the President’s performance and management agenda. In addition, they are deliberately chosen so that GSA employees can understand their direction and take actions to support them within the scope of their ordinary responsibilities. The collective energy of over 12,000 strategically aligned employees is the foundation for both a GSA transformation and GSA’s positioning as a change agent for the Federal government. 

GSA’s new strategic goals guide our leaders in operational decisions, and when requesting and allocating resources, and setting priorities in a fast-paced and constantly changing environment.  The goals also support outcome-focused and data-driven performance management at GSA.  This is perhaps the biggest change that we will undertake. We plan to use emerging technologies to sort and share data, and use networking and collective intelligence technologies to turn that data into information. GSA and our customer organizations will be thus able to make business decisions based on accurate evidence and knowledgeable analysis. 

To jumpstart this link between our strategy and performance, we answered the President’s call for high-priority performance goals. We began by choosing clear and measurable objectives that will deliver meaningful progress towards achieving our new strategic goals in the next 12 to 24 months. Our high-priority performance goals are challenging, but they will deliver near-term performance improvements for the Federal government and for our citizens. This work reflects the President’s priorities and will produce some dramatic near-term achievements and increased performance confidence in sustainability, open government, and improvements to GSA business processes. 

Our first high-priority performance goal is “sustainability”. GSA will promote and foster a sustainable environment, economy, government, and Democracy by reducing our own consumption of resources, and by providing our Federal agency customers with solutions that help them manage and reduce their consumption, as well. This high-priority performance goal is supported by three measures by which GSA will identify and change administrative policies so that they will enhance Federal sustainability, begin collecting greenhouse gas emissions disclosures from vendors who do business with GSA, and increase the percentage of waste that is diverted from landfills through recycling across Federal building inventory. 

We aligned this high-priority goal with our strategic goal of “innovation”. GSA is positioning itself to become a “green proving ground” for the Federal government, evaluating new technologies and practices to measure the return on investment and assess the viability of wider deployment.  This goal captures the excitement for “greening” the Federal supply chain. GSA will provide a greenhouse gas tracking and management tool to other agencies, and we will help the Federal government become the largest government entity – and the first in the United States – to obtain greenhouse gas emission disclosures from our vendors.  We plan to use our expertise in government-policy and acquisition planning to help Federal contracting officials incorporate vendor emissions disclosures into procurement decisions. 

Our second high-priority performance goal sets short-term objectives for expanding open Government and transparency. GSA will drive greater transparency and openness in government through the adoption of agile technologies, processes, and expertise for citizen engagement and collaboration built around innovative solutions that provide a more effective, citizen-driven government. This goal is supported by performance improvement targets for GSA’s direct contacts with citizens, for the citizen engagement solutions we provide to other agencies, and for our efforts on behalf of the Administration to expand the use of social media tools to increase public participation in government. 

GSA has aligned this high-priority performance goal with our strategic goal of “customer intimacy”, because building a transparent and open Government benefits all of our customers: other Federal agencies, our stakeholders in the Administration and in Congress, and the American public. This goal supports our desired outcome of harnessing the collective intelligence of large groups to build a more effective government. One way we are doing this is through our participation in the “Better Buy project”, a joint initiative between GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), the National Academy of Public Administration, and the American Council for Technology (ACT) - Industry Advisory Council (IAC). The Better Buy project is an on-line public dialogue that solicits advice on ways to use collaborative technology to improve Federal acquisition processes.  In response to an idea submitted through the Better Buy project, FAS is testing the viability of using a public wiki to conduct market research and develop requirements for two major IT acquisitions. A “wiki” is a public website that allows users to edit and add information: The FAS Better Buy wiki allows interested parties to help write a draft solicitation, ask questions, and engage in meaningful technical debate on each section. These pilots demonstrate how collaboration and social media can be used to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of Federal acquisitions. 

Our third high-priority performance goal is “excellence in solutions delivery” which aligns with our strategic goal of operational excellence. An example is the initiative underway in PBS in which GSA will work with our customer agencies, starting with three this year, to develop strategic portfolio plans. These long-term plans will help us develop strategic partnerships and jointly identify outcomes that best meet mission workplace needs, manage customer real estate costs, and maximize the performance of GSA’s inventory of real property assets. 

Strategic portfolio plans will re-shape the way that GSA manages real property assets by improving space utilization and operational efficiencies. Portfolio plans will transform our approach to fulfilling customer workspace requirements. GSA will form strategic partnerships with our customers jointly, to plan mutually-beneficial solutions for long-term workspace needs.  We will use portfolio plans, combined with data on real estate markets and available inventory, to offer more comprehensive solutions for meeting new customer requirements. Portfolio plans will give GSA new insight into the future needs of our customers, allowing us to focus on longer-term solutions which more effectively utilize our portfolio of real property assets. 

One final goal, which is our highest priority, is the successful implementation of the Recovery Act. We did not submit a high-priority performance goal on this critical initiative because it is a statutory mandate, but it is no less important than our other goals and it is the subject of significant effort and management attention. We are committed to fulfilling the purpose of the Act by stimulating job growth and retention and improving the environmental performance of our assets.

With your permission, I would like to turn the conversation to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“Recovery Act”) and provide you with an update on GSA’s efforts to implement this critically important legislation.  

AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT

Just over one year ago, the Recovery Act provided GSA with an unprecedented $5.85 billion, including $4.5 billion to convert existing GSA facilities into high-performance green buildings, $1.05 billion for the construction of new Federal buildings, U.S. courthouses, and land ports of entry, and $300 million to replace motor vehicles across the Federal fleet with new and more efficient vehicles. 

As of March 31, 2010 we have obligated over $4.3 billion in Recovery Act funds, including $4 billion for Federal buildings and the full $300 million provided for energy-efficient motor vehicles. 

These funds have had a tremendous impact on the economy. We have acquired over 17,000 motor vehicles from American manufacturers, awarded construction contracts to more than 500 companies in 50 States, 2 U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, and we have injected over $547 million in Federal outlays into the economy. As of the reporting quarter ending in December 31, 2009, our Recovery Act funding recipients reported that 1,702 prime contractor jobs had been funded as a result of the $2.4 billion we had obligated at that time. 

We have done our best to maximize the economic impact of our Recovery funds. We are awarding construction contracts for less than our initial estimates. This has resulted in approximately $173 million in funding being made available for reallocation, which has already been invested in additional high-performance green features on new and existing projects.  These projects will create additional jobs and add more sustainable features to Federal buildings at no additional cost to the taxpayers. Using our existing authorities, we sold the motor vehicles that we replaced with Recovery Act funds, and retained nearly $45 million in proceeds from those sales. With those proceeds, we will purchase new hybrid-electric vehicles, as part of a larger effort that will double the number of hybrid motor vehicles in the Federal fleet by December 31, 2010. 

The funds provided in the Recovery Act provided a much-needed capital infusion that greatly accelerated our progress towards meeting our sustainability goals. Recovery Act investments in the Federal fleet and in our Federal buildings will help us to reduce energy and water consumption and will help make our inventory of Federal buildings into a proving ground for new green building technologies and practices. 

We anticipate that all new construction and major building modernization projects will achieve at least a Silver certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) from the U.S. Green Buildings Council. We are aggressively deploying innovative green building technologies and, to date, we have installed 37 energy-efficient lighting system projects, 7 photovoltaic roofs, and 136 advanced meter projects.  We are also increasing our use of renewable energy and co-generation to power offices with low- and no-carbon energy. As we deploy cutting-edge, sustainable design and technology, we are evaluating performance and capturing data on the environmental and economic payback, to share with industry and other Federal agencies. 

For example, at the Major General Emmett J. Bean Federal Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, we will install a state-of-the-art photovoltaic roof with over 4,500 solar panels, producing over 1.4 megawatts of electricity.  We will also install a smaller array of four alternative photovoltaic systems, to allow for a comparative evaluation of commercially available photovoltaic solar panels operating in Midwest climates. This test project, conducted jointly with the Department of Energy and Sandia National Laboratories, will provide long-term operational and maintenance “lessons learned” for each of these systems. In total, the photovoltaic systems on this building are expected to reduce its peak electrical usage by as much as six percent as well as provide a proving ground for emerging technologies.

At the Columbus, New Mexico, Land Port of Entry, we will invest Recovery Act funds to design a net zero energy facility. A net zero energy building is a highly energy-efficient building that uses renewable energy-generation technologies to produce as much energy as it consumes from traditional utility grids over the course of a year. This design will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will also support the tenant’s mission requirement to maintain critical systems in the event of a complete loss of utilities. 

Recovery Act funds provided to procure new, energy-efficient motor vehicles have also produced impressive results. Each vehicle we acquired replaced a vehicle in the Federal fleet with a lower miles-per-gallon rating.  We estimate that the 17,246 motor vehicles purchased will save 16.7 million gallons of fuel over their lifetime, and will reduce Federal greenhouse gas emissions by 334 million pounds over the same period.  The procurement included 3,101 hybrid-electric sedans, the largest one-time acquisition of hybrid vehicles ever by the Federal government, and 35 hybrid buses. This acquisition tripled the number of hybrid vehicles in the Federal fleet in just one year and, as I mentioned earlier, we will double that number again by December 31, 2010, ending with over 11,000 hybrids across the Federal fleet. 

GSA Recovery Act funding has created jobs, benefitted local communities across the country, and delivered lasting progress toward building a more sustainable national infrastructure. The investments funded by the Recovery Act will help reduce energy consumption in our Federal buildings and in the Federal fleet, and will increase our use of clean and renewable sources of energy. Our investments are helping to stimulate job growth and retention in critical sectors.  The funds that you, the Subcommittee, entrusted to us gave GSA a unique opportunity to help improve Federal environmental performance and to contribute to economic growth in our nation.  I thank you for that opportunity, and I hope that we have proven worthy of your confidence. 

FY 2011 BUDGET REQUEST

GSA’s FY 2011 budget requests a total of $675 million in net budget authority. This amount is just 2.8% of our total planned obligations of $24 billion. The majority of our funding is provided through reimbursements from Federal customer agencies, for purchases of goods and services or as rent paid for space in Federally-owned and –leased buildings under GSA jurisdiction, custody or control.  GSA requests appropriations to support capital investments in the Federal Buildings Fund, to provide for our government-wide responsibilities, and for other activities that are not feasible or appropriate for a user fee arrangement.

Our FY 2011 budget request provides for an increase of $80.3 million over our FY 2010 enacted level. 

Our budget requests an increase of $25.5 million to the Government-wide Policy appropriation.  This request would provide for the modernization of the Integrated Acquisition Environment (IAE) and other government-wide information systems, which will improve Federal acquisition processes and reduce operating costs by moving critical acquisition systems to a common platform.  We have requested permanent funding for the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings, to support GSA’s government-wide role in improving the sustainability of Federal real property. We have also requested funding for improvements in our Federal Advisory Committee activities, to improve transparency and increase citizen participation in Government. 

We have requested $24.9 million for a new appropriation, the Federal Acquisition Workforce Initiatives Fund, to improve Federal contracting and increase the effectiveness of Federal spending by investing in the civilian acquisition workforce. This request would provide for new initiatives to address gaps in acquisition workforce development activities and to support increases in the acquisition workforce requested by other agencies in the FY 2011 President’s Budget. 

Our request for the Federal Buildings Fund increases net budget authority by $25 million. This increase provides for a capital investment program that meets customer needs, complements efforts underway through the Recovery Act, and contributes to the sustainability of our portfolio of Federal buildings. 

FEDERAL BUILDINGS FUND

Our FY 2011 budget requests $9.2 billion in New Obligational Authority (NOA) and an appropriation of $292 million for the Federal Buildings Fund.  Our request proposes a capital investment program of $1.38 billion, including headquarters consolidation projects for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), new construction projects to house U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the exercise of a lease-purchase option to acquire a building used by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 

We have requested $676 million in NOA for New Construction and Acquisition, including $590 million for Executive Agencies and $86 million for two land port of entry facilities. Our request includes the following projects:

St. Elizabeths DHS Consolidation and Development in Washington, DC ($268 million);
St. Elizabeths West Campus Infrastructure in Washington, DC ($99 million);
St. Elizabeths Historic Preservation Mitigation in Washington, DC ($5 million);
St. Elizabeths Highway Interchange in Washington, DC ($8 million);
FDA Consolidation in White Oak, MD ($174 million);
Denver Federal Center Remediation in Lakewood, CO ($8 million);
P.V. McNamara Federal Building FBI Garage in Detroit, MI ($4 million);
IRS Annex (Purchase) in Martinsburg, WV ($25 million); and
Land ports of entry in Calexico, CA and Calais, ME ($86 million).
 

GSA also requests NOA of $703 million for Repairs and Alterations (R&A) to Federal buildings.  The request includes $218 million in NOA for four major building modernizations, $103 million for four projects within the Design program, $335 million for non-prospectus level projects, and $47 million for Special Emphasis programs. Our proposed major modernization projects are:

Major General Emmett J. Bean Federal Center in Indianapolis, IN ($66 million);
James C. Corman Federal Building in Van Nuys, CA ($11 million);
Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse in New York, NY ($28 million); and
Frank Hagel Federal Building in Richmond, CA ($114 million).   
 
Our Design program would provide:

·          West Wing Design Phase II in Washington, DC ($6 million);

·          Federal Building / Parking Garage (FBI) in Los Angeles, CA ($51 million);

·          Edward J. Schwartz U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building (ICE) in San Diego, CA ($22 million); and

·          E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in Washington, DC ($23 million).

Our Special Emphasis programs would provide:

$20 million for Energy and Water Retrofit Conservation Measures;
$20 million for Fire Prevention Program; and
$7 million for Wellness and Fitness Program.  

GSA is dedicating $20 million to our Energy and Water Retrofit and Conservation program, to reduce on-site energy and water consumption in existing Federal buildings. This Special Emphasis program will upgrade Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and lighting systems, install advanced metering, increase water conservation, support new renewable energy projects, and many other items that will conserve energy in Federal buildings. This program is in addition to the energy conservation measures that are already incorporated into our prospectus-level New Construction and Repairs and Alterations project requests.

GSA is also dedicating, in support of the Administration’s new health and wellness initiatives, $7 million to our Wellness and Fitness program to upgrade, replace, and improve space within Government-owned buildings in support of employee wellness. Typical projects will include upgrades to fitness centers, cafeterias and snack bars, and health units, as well as facility alterations necessary to expand services. 

In addition to our capital program, GSA requests New Obligational Authority for our operating program, in the amount of:

$5.3 billion for the Rental of Space program, which will provide for 197 million rentable square feet of leased space;
$2.3 billion for the Building Operations program; and
$136 million for the Installment Acquisition Payments program.  

OPERATING APPROPRIATIONS REQUEST

Our FY 2011 budget requests $321 million for our operating appropriations. Our operating appropriations provide for GSA’s Office of Government-wide Policy, the many government-wide programs of the Operating Expenses account, the GSA Office of Inspector General, the Electronic Government Fund, the pensions and office staffs of former Presidents, and the Federal Citizen Services Fund. This year’s budget also requests funding for a new appropriation, the Federal Acquisition Workforce Initiatives Fund. 

The largest increase in our request is for the operating requirements of the Office of Government-wide Policy, including the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings.  The proposed increase of $25 million is primarily made up of the $21 million increase for modernization and upgrades to government-wide information systems to improve reliability and transparency. Funds provided would be used to increase system capacity, improve data quality, and lower operating costs in future years for multiple Federal systems. Timely investment in these systems is critical to fulfilling the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act and the President’s Open Government Directive. The funds requested would be used for system modernizations necessary to improve data reliability, interoperability, and accessibility.  Increased accessibility and transparency of government spending data, regulatory information, and contracting opportunities will attract new entrants into the Federal market which in turn improves competition. 

GSA has also requested $24.9 million for strategic investments in the Federal, civilian acquisition workforce, through the Federal Acquisition Workforce Initiatives Fund. These funds would provide for activities that foster and promote the development of the government-wide acquisition workforce and support the responsibilities provided for in the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act. Funding is requested to mitigate the risks associated with gaps in either capacity or capability of the acquisition workforce, to improve the effectiveness of the workforce, and to maximize competition and value. Our request includes $6 million to create and maintain the contractor inventory database required by section 743 of Public Law 111-117, the FY 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act.  

Additional funds requested for GSA operating appropriations include increases for the Federal pay raise and inflation, along with proposed program increases to:

fund new and existing Electronic Government projects to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Government operations through information technology, improve the transparency of Federal operations, and increase citizen participation in Government.
provide high-performance green building standards for all types of Federal facilities;
develop and enhance multiple government-wide databases to improve Federal reporting and transparency; and
reflect the full-year cost of the pensions and related benefits for the former Presidents.

FEDERAL ACQUISITION SERVICE        

In FY 2009, the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) realized net operating results of $209 million.  For the first time since establishment of FAS, all portfolios realized positive net operating results.  Revenues increased in all FAS portfolios, resulting in total revenues of $9.9 billion in FY 2009, an increase of nearly seven percent over FY 2008 levels.  In fiscal years 2010 and 2011, GSA anticipates continued growth in FAS business, as we foster collaboration and develop new partnerships to expand sustainable acquisition practices in the Federal community. 

GSA and FAS are committed to improving the environmental performance of the Federal government by providing products, services, and expertise in sustainable acquisition. FAS has developed a web-based management tool to track greenhouse gas emissions, fuel and energy consumption, and other data.  This tool is pre-populated with emissions data from GSA programs and is offered for free to other Federal agencies, to assist them in making cost-effective energy use and emissions management decisions. 

FAS led an inter-agency team which developed recommendations for the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and OMB on “greening” the Federal supply chain. These recommendations were prepared in response to Executive Order 13514, “Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance”, and included a feasibility assessment of tracking and reporting greenhouse gas emissions of Federal contractors and vendors. FAS is also working with the Carbon Disclosure Project and several Federal agencies to request greenhouse gas emissions disclosures from major vendors. GSA has set an Agency High-Priority Performance Goal of obtaining disclosures from at least 60 key Government vendors by September 30, 2011. This will allow our customers to consider greenhouse gas emissions when considering vendors.

FAS is also working to change its own business offerings to help its customers make informed decisions regarding sustainable and environmentally-preferable products and services. FAS is currently developing green purchasing training for its customers. This training will highlight applicable laws and regulations, share environmental considerations for developing statements of work, and share best practices and solutions for complying with Federal green purchasing regulations. 

FAS is taking steps to accurately list and supply ENERGY STAR and Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) designated products on GSAAdvantage!®, GSA’s on-line ordering system.  FAS has initiated partnerships with ENERGY STAR and FEMP to share data and ensure that products identified as ENERGY STAR or FEMP-compliant are accurately labeled.   FAS has also added alerts to GSAAdvantage!® to notify buyers of ENERGY STAR and FEMP-compliant alternatives when they choose products that are not environmentally-preferable.   

GSA and FAS are taking the lead in sustainable acquisition for the Federal government. We are committed to assisting agencies in making sustainable procurement decisions that support their missions while delivering value to the American public.

SUMMARY STATEMENT

I accepted President Obama’s nomination as the Administrator of General Services in order to transform GSA into an agent of change. GSA is uniquely qualified to make a dramatic impact on Federal sustainability by increasing the efficiency and reducing the environmental impact of our Federal buildings, fleet vehicles, and the Federal supply chain. We can and will do more to engage our citizens, to capture and use their collective intelligence, and to open up government and Democracy to the American public. And we will take our own performance to the next level: We will excel at innovation, we will be intimate with our customers, and we will be known for achieving results. 

The accomplishments that I have shared with you today demonstrate GSA’s commitment to leading change. GSA is an organization with tremendous history of innovation, a deep and growing understanding of our customers and their missions, and a great skill at delivering solutions. We will meet our current challenges and we will seize the opportunities that lie ahead. 

Your approval of GSA’ budget request for FY 2011 is a critical step toward helping GSA to achieve our mutual goals of economic recovery, sustainability, and open Government. GSA is dedicated to delivering on these goals, and we will use our expertise to provide innovative solutions for our customers in support of their missions and by so doing foster an effective, sustainable, and transparent Government for the American people. 

CLOSING STATEMENT

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my formal statement.  I look forward to continuing this discussion of our FY 2011 budget request with you and the Members of the Subcommittee.