Five months into President Donald Trump’s administration, the General Services Administration, the federal agency in charge of the government’s real estate and procurement, is still awaiting a permanent administrator and public buildings commissioner.
Two of the more than 400 executive branch positions Trump has yet to appoint a nominee for, the top GSA roles are responsible for making the federal government’s real estate decisions. Many of those choices, which have a major impact on the D.C.-area office market, appear to be on hold as the agency remains under temporary leadership.
The administration appointed the commissioner of the GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, Alan Thomas, on Wednesday. The FAS deals with information technology and services and is not involved in the GSA’s real estate decisions, but the appointment could be a sign of things to come.
“If they’ve made a decision on the federal acquisition service commissioner, I would say they’re pretty close to making a decision on the public buildings commissioner,” said Holland & Knight partner Bob MacKichan, a former GSA counsel who led the agency’s pre-inauguration transition.
Click here to read the rest of the story written by Jon Banister over at Bis Now