OMB unpauses plan to rethink the federal property footprint

The Biden administration is unpausing a plan to rethink the federal workplace.

The White House hit pause on a requirement for agencies to develop annual real property capital plans last year because of the pandemic, but now agencies are being asked to plan for the post-COVID workplace. 

In a July 20 memo, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young said that agencies have until Dec. 16, 2022 to submit FY2024-FY2028 capital plans to OMB and the  Federal Real Property Council.

OMB also wants agencies to account for what the administration is calling the "future of work" in the process by considering how the federal government might leverage increased work flexibilities like telework and space sharing after the pandemic recedes.

Already, agencies have been planning how their workforce will look in the short- and long-term post-pandemic environment, submitting re-entry and post-reentry plans last year that they're now implementing and evaluating, according to the new memo. 

The memo tells agencies to think about the property they'll need both for "the immediate post-reentry workplace environment and in the future of work context."

Among the considerations OMB flags for agencies are thinking of the impact their physical, building space divisions will have on local communities, as well as the state of a given agency's technology and whether or not the collaboration tools and software it has support a remote or hybrid workforce.

"In making decisions regarding post-reentry personnel policies and work environments, as well as the future of work and workplaces, agencies must be guided by how they can most effectively achieve their respective missions," Young wrote.