Federal Real Property: The Judiciary Should Measure the Utilization of Its Administrative Space

TL;DR

The GAO found that the Federal Judiciary’s administrative space comprised roughly 40% of its total space from fiscal years 2021–2025, and in FY2025 accounted for 12.2 million usable square feet across 716 of 772 occupied facilities—a 1% decrease from FY2021. Administrative space was the only type of space in over one-third of occupied facilities in FY2025, and most of those single-use facilities (234 of 272) were commercially owned; 96% of those commercially owned facilities were occupied by federal public defender organizations and probation offices. The proportion of the judiciary’s annual rent spent on administrative space remained steady (39–40%) from FY2021–FY2025; the judiciary paid over $1 billion in rent in FY2025. GAO concluded the judiciary does not collect occupancy data and therefore cannot measure utilization (defined as average daily occupancy relative to usable square feet), limiting its ability to right-size leases and maximize space use. Immediate implications: expect increased scrutiny of space-management practices at AOUSC and the courts, potential shifts in future leasing and asset planning, and new opportunities for contractors offering space-planning, asset management, and facility-management services under relevant contract vehicles.

Key Points

• What happened: GAO reviewed judiciary administrative space and found 12.2 million usable square feet in FY2025 (40% of total space), a 1% decline from FY2021, and that the judiciary does not collect occupancy data to measure utilization.
• Who is affected: Federal Judiciary entities and functions identified in the report, including the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, U.S. Courts of Appeals, U.S. District Courts, U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, Federal Public Defender Organizations, and U.S. Probation Offices; market segments listed in segmentation such as Real Property Management, Facility Management, Space Planning and Utilization, Commercial Real Estate Leasing, Asset Management, Architectural and Engineering Services, and Management Consulting; NAICS codes in segmentation (531120, 531210, 531390, 541310, 541330, 541611, 541614, 541618, 541990); and contract vehicles noted in segmentation (GSA (General Services Administration) Schedules, GSA Multiple Award Schedules, PBS Leasing Programs).
• Timeline: Fiscal years 2021 through 2025 are the analysis period cited in the report; FY2025 is the reporting year with current metrics.
• What contractors should do NOW: validate capture pipelines against the affected market segments and listed NAICS codes; prioritize capability statements and capture materials for space-utilization, lease optimization, and asset-management work; prepare bids for relevant vehicles (GSA Schedules / PBS Leasing Programs where applicable); and brief BD and capture teams to watch for AOUSC- or GSA-led solicitations or policy shifts.

Who Is Affected

Specific NAICS codes, agencies, and contract vehicles pending source review.

(See Segmentation for full lists: NAICS — 531120, 531210, 531390, 541310, 541330, 541611, 541614, 541618, 541990; Agencies — Federal Judiciary, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, GSA, U.S. Courts of Appeals, U.S. District Courts, U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, Federal Public Defender Organizations, U.S. Probation Offices; Vehicles — GSA Schedules, GSA Multiple Award Schedules, PBS Leasing Programs; Market segments — Real Property Management, Facility Management, Space Planning and Utilization, Commercial Real Estate Leasing, Asset Management, Architectural and Engineering Services, Management Consulting.)

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What specific measurement is the GAO saying the judiciary lacks?

A: GAO says the judiciary does not collect occupancy data and therefore cannot measure utilization, which GAO defines as the ratio of average daily occupancy to usable square feet.

Q: How large is the judiciary’s administrative space and rent exposure?

A: GAO reports 12.2 million usable square feet of administrative space in FY2025 across 716 facilities and that the judiciary paid over $1 billion in rent in FY2025. The share of rent spent on administrative space was 39–40% from FY2021–FY2025.

Q: Which judiciary occupants are concentrated in commercially owned, single‑use facilities?

A: GAO reports that of the facilities that were single‑use administrative space in FY2025, 234 of 272 were commercially owned, and 96% of those 234 facilities were occupied by federal public defender organizations and probation offices.

Definitions

• Administrative space: In this report, administrative space refers to offices that support the judiciary’s mission (examples cited include district clerks’ offices and probation offices).
• Utilization: The ratio of the average daily occupancy of a space compared to the usable square feet of that space.
• Usable square feet: The report’s measure of the judiciary’s usable floor area reported for administrative space (12.2 million usable square feet in FY2025).

Intelligence Response

• Cabrillo Signals War Room — Already detected this GAO event and delivered this briefing. Signals War Room continuously monitors audit reports, federal real property developments, and policy shifts to surface high-severity budget and asset-management alerts.
• Cabrillo Signals Match Engine — Rescores opportunity pipelines and prioritizes capture targets where changes in agency asset-management posture (e.g., new focus on utilization) increase procurement likelihood.
• Cabrillo Signals Intelligence Hub — Tracks affected agencies, the NAICS codes and contract vehicles listed in segmentation, and will run saved searches to alert when AOUSC- or GSA-related solicitations, amendments, or guidance referencing space utilization appear on SAM.gov (System for Award Management).
• Proposal Studio (Proposal OS) & Proposal Studio Workflow Tracker — Use to accelerate creation of capability statements, compliance matrices, win themes, and to run a 9-gate capture workflow for solicitations tied to space planning, leasing, or asset management.

Who to notify now:

• BD Director — for strategy and pipeline reprioritization.
• Capture Lead(s) for Real Property / Facilities — to update pursuit plans for GSA/PBS and AOUSC opportunities.
• Proposal Manager — to schedule Proposal Studio workflows and compliance checks.
• Real Property Subject Matter Expert — to align technical approach and proof points.

First 48-hour playbook

• Hour 0–4: Acknowledge the briefing; notify BD Director, Capture Lead, Proposal Manager, and Real Property SME. Assign owner to monitor AOUSC and GSA pages via Cabrillo Signals Intelligence Hub saved searches.
• Hour 4–12: Use Signals Match Engine to rescore active opportunities and flag highest-probability pursuits tied to space planning, leasing optimization, or asset management. Mobilize Proposal Studio to assemble initial capture boilerplate and compliance matrix.
• Hour 12–24: Capture Lead conducts rapid capability-gap analysis against rescored pursuits; develop 1-page capability statement and short list of past performance references using Proposal OS.
• Hour 24–48: Conduct strategy sync with BD and technical teams, finalize bid/no-bid decisions in Proposal Studio Workflow Tracker, and set targeted watchlists in Signals War Room for AOUSC/GSA follow-on activity.

Resources

• Primary hub: Winning Federal Contracts Guide (/insights/winning-federal-contracts)
• Related guides: CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) Compliance Guide (/insights/cmmc-compliance-guide), CUI (Controlled Unclassified Information)-Safe CRM Guide (/insights/cui-safe-crm-guide)