Restoring Common Sense to Federal Office Space Management

The order revokes Executive Order 12072 (1978), which required federal agencies to prioritize central business districts when siting urban facilities, and Executive Order 13006 (1996), which encouraged agencies to locate in historic properties and districts. It directs the Administrator of General Services to begin amending the relevant federal regulations at 41 C.F.R. parts 102-79 and 102-83 to align federal office space management policy with the new approach. Agencies acquiring or using federally owned or leased space under other statutory authority are also directed to conform to the order's provisions where consistent with applicable law.

The order does not itself change any lease or property arrangement; it removes the prior policy preferences and sets in motion a regulatory amendment process. It includes standard carve-outs preserving existing agency legal authorities, OMB budgetary functions, and the requirement that implementation be consistent with appropriations law.

Federal executive departments and agencies that own, lease, or select office space — particularly those subject to the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act. The General Services Administration bears the primary implementation burden. Private-sector landlords in central business districts and historic urban properties may see reduced federal demand.

Federal agencies will no longer be required to prefer downtown or historic locations when selecting office space, which could shift government leases to lower-cost suburban or rural facilities. Landlords in urban central business districts that have long relied on federal tenants could lose a predictable source of demand.

The GSA Administrator must initiate formal rulemaking to amend 41 C.F.R. parts 102-79 and 102-83, a multi-step regulatory process requiring notice and public comment before any changes take effect. Until those rules are finalized, existing agency space decisions operate without the old location preferences but are also not yet governed by new affirmative standards. Agencies with independent real-property authority must separately conform their practices to the extent their own governing law allows.