GSA is pleased to provide guidance to office space use in the federal government and the private sector. This review contains valuable data and practical advice pertinent to all real property professionals.

This update of the Office Space Use Review is abstracted from Appendix B of the Real Property Performance Results 2002, an annual analysis of real property performance in the federal office space sector. This publication contains an annual update on the seven key measures of federal real property performance, the number of federal teleworkers, and the most current private sector benchmarks. GSA's goal is to summarize the relevant data and to provide customers with a concise reference document.

In September 1997, GSA produced a study entitled Office Space Use Review: Current Practices and Emerging Trends. This review was undertaken in response to an Office of Management and Budget request for follow-on actions to implement the Federal Real Property Asset Management principles. In an effort to improve the use of office space by federal agencies, GSA conducted an extensive review of space management priorities and practices prevalent in the private and public sectors. This review broke new ground for the federal sector by emphasizing flexibility, individual agency responsibility, strategic planning for real property needs and an overall average utilization rate measured in private sector terms.

In December 2002, GSA had come full circle with an update to that effort.  In the years since publication of the previous review, space allocation trends have shifted. An increased competitiveness in the marketplace, coupled with limited space availability, has resulted in many private sector organizations moving away from strict space standards based on pay level or employee position. Space planners now must weigh space availability, corporate culture, mission, job requirements, cost, and efficiency when determining how to forecast and allocate space usage; however, they continue to monitor space per person to assist with space allocation and space planning.

Under the Library, view PDF files of the 1997 Office Space Use Review: Current Practices and Emerging Trends and the update 2002 edition of the Office Space Use Review.