Federal agencies spent $16 million on occupancy data under USE IT Act

Under the USE IT Act enacted in January 2025, federal agencies were required to collect and report occupancy data on office space. The data is used to calculate utilization rates for owned buildings and leased locations. Twenty of the 23 agencies that responded to a GAO survey reported using existing badging systems for this purpose. Sixteen of these 20 agencies reported supplementing that information with data from other sources such as daily check-in surveys.

Most agencies reported minimal costs associated with collecting and reporting the data. Collectively, the 23 agencies spent $16 million in 2025. Nearly all agencies surveyed noted the importance of having easy to implement, cost-effective data collection approaches that they could put in place by the July 2025 implementation deadline.

Many agencies told GAO they are either using or plan to use the data to identify and dispose of unneeded real property. Some agency officials said they have already made decisions to consolidate or dispose of underutilized spaces, informed in part by the data, and expect to save millions of dollars annually.

The data submitted to Congress and the public in March 2026 does not have important context, including on GSA-controlled vacant space, needed to fully reflect office space utilization. Without this information, Congress and the public may have an inaccurate impression of the extent to which owned and leased office spaces are being utilized.

About one-third of surveyed agencies expressed concerns about how GSA data collection and reporting guidelines affect their utilization rate calculations. Some agencies described approaches to collecting and reporting their occupancy data that are inconsistent with GSA guidelines, resulting in data that are incomplete. For example, one agency reported the number of employees assigned to each location rather than measuring the extent to which employees were present in those spaces.

The USE IT Act requires the 24 Chief Financial Officer Act agencies to collect and report occupancy data on the number of employees working in certain owned and leased spaces. The act also requires GAO to review the costs to these agencies of this requirement.