PRESS RELEASE: GSA awarded $1 million for design that includes new low-embodied carbon materials funded by the Inflation Reduction Act

May 22, 2024

Press Release
U.S. General Services Administration

For Immediate Release                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Contact: Rich Stebbins, 303-513-1166
May 22, 2024                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           richard.stebbins@gsa.gov

GSA awarded $1 million for design that includes new low-embodied carbon materials funded by the Inflation Reduction Act 

DENVER – The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded an approximately $1 million order to SmithGroup, Inc. for design and engineering services for a repair project focusing on window replacements and parking lot improvements at the David Skaggs Research Center in Boulder, Colorado, and Building 25 at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, Colorado. The potential multi-million dollar repair projects will use low embodied carbon materials to replace windows and site asphalt.

Funded through the Inflation Reduction Act, the project is one of more than 150 low-embodied carbon projects that GSA is undertaking nationwide. The agency recently marked the first anniversary of these efforts by highlighting a substantial increase in the number of homegrown, low-embodied carbon products offered in the marketplace. GSA’s IRA investments further the Federal Buy Clean Initiative, and will help catalyze our purchasing power to spur markets for American-made products that have substantially lower levels of embodied greenhouse gas emissions associated with their extraction, production, transport, and manufacturing.

The project’s design intent is to install a triple-pane, three-story curtain-wall system at the main entrance of the David Skaggs Research Center, and replace current single pane window units with a triple pane window system at Building 25. This will save energy and improve interior tenant comfort at both locations. Additionally, the current 600,000 square foot parking lot at the David Skaggs Research Center will be repaved with low embodied carbon asphalt to maintain necessary conditions while reducing the climate-changing impact of the necessary repaving work.

The Inflation Reduction Act includes $3.4 billion for GSA to develop the market for low-embodied carbon materials, and to deliver more sustainable and cost-efficient high-performance public facilities. Through these investments, GSA estimates that it could reduce carbon emissions by 2.3 million metric tons in operational greenhouse gas emissions alone. That is the equivalent of taking about 500,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles off the road for one year.

For more information about GSA’s Inflation Reduction Act projects, visit Inflation Reduction Act.

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About GSA: 
GSA provides centralized procurement and shared services for the federal government, managing a nationwide real estate portfolio of nearly 370 million rentable square feet, overseeing about $100 billion in products and services via federal contracts, and delivering technology services that serve millions of people across dozens of federal agencies. GSA’s mission is to deliver the best customer experience and value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to the government and the American people. For more information, visit GSA.gov and follow us at @USGSA.