Administration Revokes Executive Orders on Location of Federal Gov't Offices

Action: Executive Order “Restoring Common Sense to Federal Office Space Management”

What it does: The Administration has issued an Executive Order revoking two Orders issued by Presidents Carter and Clinton regarding the location of Federal offices. President Carter signed Executive Order 12072 in 1978 directing the Federal government to prioritize central business districts when siting facilities in urban areas. Building off of President Carter’s order, President Clinton signed Executive Order 13006 in 1996 to encourage Federal agencies to locate their facilities in historic properties and districts, particularly in central business areas. The Administration contends that the revoked Orders “failed to adequately prioritize efficient and effective Government service” and moving Executive departments and agencies to “where people are” will promote high quality, efficient, and cost-effective services.

Key Insights

• The revoked Orders from Presidents Clinton and Carter were intended to revitalize urban areas around the country. They included language directing Federal agencies to implement the requirements in a manner that is “economically feasible and prudent” and “operationally appropriate and economically prudent.”
• While the headquarters of most Federal agencies are located in the DC metropolitan area, the US Office of Personnel Management published data in 2017 demonstrating that almost 85% of permanent, full-time Federal civilian employees were located outside of the DC metropolitan area. More recent research shows that almost 80% of the Federal workforce resides outside of the DC area.
• In 2019 and 2020, the President’s Administration broke up the DC office of the Bureau of Land Management, moving Federal employees to Western states. The Administration also moved the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to Kansas City.
• At the time of the move, the Administration claimed that the USDA relocations would save taxpayers nearly $300 million over 15 years, though the Government Accountability Office reviewed the Administration’s analysis and found that USDA “didn't factor in potential costs related to the attrition of staff or the disruption of agencies' activities due to the relocation.”
• It is not clear how the Executive Order would meaningfully reduce costs for the Federal government or provide more cost-effective services to Americans given the large proportion of Federal employees already located outside of the DC area.