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

Executive Summary

The GAO review of federal judiciary administrative space finds that administrative functions accounted for about 40 percent of the judiciary’s total space in fiscal years 2021–2025, with 12.2 million usable square feet in fiscal year 2025 across 716 of 772 facilities (a 1 percent decline from FY2021). Administrative space was the sole type of space in over a third of occupied facilities in FY2025, most of which were commercially owned and largely occupied by federal public defender organizations and probation offices. The judiciary paid over $1 billion in rent in FY2025, and rent for administrative space represented roughly 39–40 percent of annual rent spending during 2021–2025. GAO found the judiciary tracks space and rent but does not collect occupancy data needed to measure utilization, and it has not integrated utilization measurement into its practices.

For contractors, this creates immediate demand signals across several market segments named in the Tags: Real Property Management, Facility Management, Space Planning and Utilization, Commercial Real Estate Leasing, Asset Management, Architectural and Engineering Services, and Management Consulting. Because the judiciary has a large footprint, significant commercial leases, and an identified capability gap (lack of occupancy/utilization measurement), contractors that can supply occupancy data collection, utilization analytics, space-rightsizing planning, and related implementation services — and that can align with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and GSA (General Services Administration) leasing processes — should prioritize readiness. This is a critical opportunity driven by a GAO-identified deficiency and the judiciary’s large rent exposure in FY2025.

Impact Matrix

Real Property Management

• Risk Level: High
• Opportunity: Support for portfolio-level assessments and optimization; Specific NAICS codes: 531120, 531210, 531390 (from Tags). Contract vehicles: GSA Schedules / GSA Multiple Award Schedules / PBS Leasing Programs (from Tags). Specific opportunities TBD pending solicitation language.
• Timeline: Fiscal years 2021 through 2025 (GAO analysis focused on this period); FY2025 data points are prominent in the Summary.
• Action Required: Prepare offerings for space inventory reconciliation, lease portfolio analysis, and occupancy-to-lease mapping; develop materials demonstrating experience with commercial-leased federal facilities and with analysis that links occupancy metrics to lease cost reduction.
• Competitive Edge: Combine real‑property portfolio analytics with turnkey implementation plans that translate utilization findings into lease renegotiation, consolidation, or relocation strategies tied to measurable cost savings.

Facility Management

• Risk Level: High
• Opportunity: Day-to-day operations improvement tied to utilization gains, retrofits, and reconfiguration of administrative space; Specific NAICS codes: 541614, 541618, 541990 (from Tags). Contract vehicles: GSA Schedules / GSA Multiple Award Schedules (from Tags). Specific opportunities TBD pending solicitation language.
• Timeline: Fiscal years 2021–2025 data underpin the need; action may be near-term as agencies consider utilization measurement.
• Action Required: Position teams to perform occupancy studies, implement space sensors or audit programs, and translate occupancy findings into facility staffing and maintenance plans.
• Competitive Edge: Offer integrated measurement-to-operations packages (occupancy measurement + facility operational adjustments) with pilots that demonstrate short-term efficiency metrics.

Space Planning and Utilization

• Risk Level: Critical
• Opportunity: Core opportunity to deliver occupancy measurement, utilization benchmarks, and rightsizing plans; Specific NAICS codes: 541310, 541330 (from Tags). Contract vehicles: GSA Schedules / Multiple Award Schedules (from Tags). Specific opportunities TBD pending solicitation language.
• Timeline: Fiscal year 2025 is the focal year cited; GAO recommends measuring going forward (no statutory deadline provided in Summary).
• Action Required: Develop methodologies for occupancy data collection, utilization-rate calculation, and benchmark development tailored to judiciary administrative functions; prepare pilot proposals for circuits or court units.
• Competitive Edge: Deliver validated utilization benchmarks and analytics dashboards that map average daily occupancy to usable square feet and project lease cost impacts.

Commercial Real Estate Leasing

• Risk Level: High
• Opportunity: Advisory work for commercially leased facilities (234 of 272 commercially owned facilities noted) — lease advisory, market analysis, and negotiation support; Specific NAICS codes: 531120, 531210, 531390 (from Tags). Vehicles: PBS Leasing Programs; GSA Schedules (from Tags). Specific opportunities TBD pending solicitation language.
• Timeline: FY2025 data indicate near-term attention to commercial leases; longer-term actions will follow utilization measurement efforts.
• Action Required: Prepare to assist federal public defender organizations, probation offices, and AOUSC in lease assessment and renegotiation scenarios informed by occupancy/utilization findings.
• Competitive Edge: Pair market intelligence with utilization analytics to justify consolidation, surrender, or renegotiation strategies that reduce rent exposure.

Asset Management

• Risk Level: High
• Opportunity: Support AOUSC’s Asset Management Planning processes by incorporating occupancy/utilization metrics into physical assessments; Specific NAICS codes: 541611, 541614 (from Tags). Contract vehicles: GSA Schedules / Multiple Award Schedules (from Tags). Specific opportunities TBD pending solicitation language.
• Timeline: Fiscal years 2021–2025 inform current asset baselines; ongoing integration of utilization measurement is implied.
• Action Required: Offer services to integrate occupancy data into asset management planning, provide tools for benchmarking and scenario modeling, and document how utilization links to asset-reduction or repurposing decisions.
• Competitive Edge: Build templates that convert utilization metrics into actionable asset-management decisions and cost estimates for judicial stakeholders.

Architectural and Engineering Services

• Risk Level: Medium
• Opportunity: Reconfiguration, retrofit, and design services to adapt space following utilization studies; Specific NAICS codes: 541310, 541330 (from Tags). Contract vehicles: GSA Schedules (from Tags). Specific opportunities TBD pending solicitation language.
• Timeline: Dependent on outcomes of utilization measurement; FY2025 provides baseline.
• Action Required: Prepare modular, cost‑efficient design solutions that can be justified with utilization data and that support converting underused space to higher-value uses.
• Competitive Edge: Offer rapid, low-disruption design packages linked to measured utilization thresholds that trigger different scopes of work.

Management Consulting

• Risk Level: High
• Opportunity: Strategy, change management, and implementation support to help the judiciary adopt occupancy measurement and utilization benchmarks; Specific NAICS codes: 541611, 541614, 541618, 541990 (from Tags). Contract vehicles: GSA Schedules / Multiple Award Schedules (from Tags). Specific opportunities TBD pending solicitation language.
• Timeline: GAO’s FY2025 findings create an immediate consulting need to define business requirements and measurement plans.
• Action Required: Develop proposals to help AOUSC and circuit executives design occupancy-data collection programs, define utilization benchmarks, and implement governance for ongoing measurement.
• Competitive Edge: Provide cross-disciplinary teams (analytics + change management + real estate) with case studies showing how utilization measurement led to concrete rent and space reductions.

Cross-Segment Implications

• Utilization measurement is a linchpin: Space Planning and Utilization work will directly drive opportunities in Commercial Real Estate Leasing (lease renegotiation/consolidation), Asset Management (portfolio decisions), and Architectural and Engineering Services (reconfiguration). Without occupancy data, downstream segments cannot justify scope or cost.
• Facility Management and Real Property Management must coordinate: operational changes informed by utilization studies will affect lease terms and asset plans, requiring synchronized technical and contractual work across segments.
• Management Consulting is needed to bridge AOUSC/GSA governance and technical implementation: contractors that can combine analytics, change management, and lease-market strategies will capture multi-segment engagements.
• Commercially owned facilities concentration (noted in FY2025 sample) implies a heavy emphasis on lease advisory and landlord negotiations — this ties directly to the Real Property Management and Commercial Real Estate Leasing segments.