GSA Blog

Transforming PBS for the Future

GSA’s Public Buildings Service (PBS) supports federal agencies by delivering safe, modern and efficient workspaces that enable us to best serve the American people.

Over the past several months, the Public Buildings Service (PBS) has sought ways to more effectively and efficiently deliver our services. Now, our service is moving forward with a plan to restructure and become a functionally integrated, agile organization. The reorganized PBS is better equipped to take on today’s pressing real estate challenges while supporting federal agencies by delivering consistently excellent service across the country.

A New Direction

Aligned with President Trump’s Workforce Optimization and Cost Efficiency Initiatives, PBS’s new organizational model is based on integrated functional operations rather than 11 separate regions and a central office. Our operations are now centrally managed with a portfolio structure that continues to support a geographic presence nationwide.

This model allows us to better align services with our federal customers. For example, until now the federal judicial circuits were often split between multiple regions, making coordination difficult and processes inconsistent. Now, not only can our operations mirror those same geographical boundaries as the U.S. Court-related agencies and systems, we are able to easily implement best practices and efficiencies across the country — ensuring our procurement efforts represent the quality and consistency America taxpayers expect with GSA.

Reorganizing for Results

To better execute on this vision, PBS has restructured its operations into eight centralized business lines, organized by function. These business lines will work together on integrated teams to deliver our services to agency customers. This change will achieve:

• Exceptional customer experience: We are establishing a national standard for consistent service delivery and customer experience across PBS’s diverse real estate portfolio and customers.
• Improved business operations: We will minimize duplication and streamline operations to effectively address customer needs.
• More agile workforce: We have organized functionally so PBS can leverage its nationwide workforce and better respond to customer needs across the country.

By aligning resources with mission-critical priorities, we expect to see improved service quality and deliver better outcomes for federal employees and taxpayers alike.

A Continued Focus on Customer Service

A primary objective of the new PBS organization is to deliver consistently excellent service to all of our customers. To help achieve this goal, we created a new Office of Client Strategy to serve as an agency’s primary liaison to PBS — guiding and assisting in developing requirements, planning consolidations and relocations, meeting an agency’s space needs, and more.

While PBS now operates as a national organization, we recognize the continued need for geographic availability. As such, PBS now has seven geographic Zones within our new structure, with Zonal Executives located within each Zone to further support our customers, facilities, and projects. Facility Managers, Lease Administration Managers, and Project Managers continue to interact with customers locally to deliver the space and services needed to achieve the agency’s mission.

Conclusion

I am incredibly proud of the dedicated professionals across PBS, and their commitment to public service. I’m confident that this restructuring will improve PBS’s ability to serve our customers and deliver value for the American people. And, I’m excited for what lies ahead as we work together to build a stronger PBS.