The Trump administration has given federal agencies until mid-April to submit plans detailing where they will move their offices outside of the nation’s capital.
Heads of all departments and agencies on Wednesday were told to submit “any proposed relocations of agency bureaus and offices from Washington, D.C. and the National Capital Region to less-costly parts of the country” by April 14.
The directive was part of guidance sent from leaders in the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management, which outlined how to comply with Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency “workforce optimization” executive order that vowed to eliminate “waste, bloat, and insularity.”
To achieve this, Elon Musk and DOGE have made sweeping staff cuts, slashed contracts, and initiated plans to downsize the federal government’s real estate holdings in D.C.
There was no mention of the likely massive costs in making such moves, or the inefficiency and possible funding drain of selling property or paying off leases only to have to replace property with other purchases or leases.
In a Wednesday executive order, the administration directed heads of agencies to confirm to the General Services Administrator a "complete and accurate inventory” of real property within seven days, and then identify all termination rights for existing leases within 30 days.
The Administrator of General Services must submit a plan to dispose of government-owned property “deemed by the agency as no longer needed” within 60 days, the order states.
At a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Trump remarked on the number of Education Department buildings in the nation’s capital.
“You go around Washington and see all these buildings with the Department of Education,” the president said. “We want to move education back to the states, where it belongs. Iowa should have education. Indiana should run their own education. You’re going to see education go way up.”
Ending government leases in the city could have widespread implications for its economy, some argued.
Diana Parks, chair of the National Federal Development Association, told The Washington Post it “would be devastating to most commercial landholders in the D.C. market.”
She continued: “For all of it to hit the market in a short time, it’s just a supply-and-demand issue that’ll drive down the value of that real estate considerably.”
The deadline for proposed relocations was the second phase of a two-phase guidance from the OMB and OPM. The first phase required agency heads to submit “reorganization plans” that “focus on initial agency cuts and reductions” by March 13.
