Federal Oversight of Construction Use and Safety Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6260, as amended. H.R. 6260, the Federal Oversight of Construction Use and Safety Act, introduced by Representative Chavez-DeRemer, makes a good faith effort at reducing the costs of the General Service Administration's capital projects.

The bill requires GSA to notify the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works--GSA's congressional authorizers--when GSA construction or renovation project costs increase or decrease by 5 percent. It also requires GSA to submit an amended prospectus to congressional authorizers when project costs increase or decrease by more than 10 percent.

The FOCUS Act requires GSA to collect data from tenants about safety incidents in and around public buildings and submit that data to congressional authorizers.

It requires GSA to include utilization and occupancy data and prospectuses submitted to congressional authorizers. Additionally, the bill requires GSA to share location information between Federal agencies in the same geographical area to facilitate opportunities for space sharing and consolidations.

This bill also requires GSA to notify congressional authorizers when project milestones are accomplished, such as the solicitation and award of design services, the completion of any actions required under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and when the project is completed.

Finally, the bill requires the Government Accountability Office to require the use of special spaces, such as fitness centers and conference centers, in Federal buildings.

With strong provisions like these, this bill will likely help reduce the costs of GSA capital projects.

I support H.R. 6260, as amended, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota.

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Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6260, the Federal Oversight of Construction Use and Safety Act, introduced by my colleague, Representative Chavez-DeRemer, makes a good faith effort at reducing the costs of GSA's capital projects.

I support this bill, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota.

So often our attention is pulled to the massive issues, the sexy fights that sometimes divide this Chamber. The bill before us, Mr. Speaker, of course, is not that. It is commonsense legislation. It is the kind of meat and potatoes, blocking and tackling legislation that so many Americans, I think, are hungry for. It is a data-driven proposal.

We heard from Mrs. Chavez-DeRemer that 17 of 24 buildings in the study that she cited were dramatically underutilized. This is an opportunity for good managers within the GSA and good managers within Congress to use the data that her bill would provide to make better decisions. What a delightful outcome that would be.

As we have discussed, this bill would increase transparency, strengthen accountability, assist the committee in its oversight of Federal space utilization, and help us increase safety at our public buildings.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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