Turnkey pilot delivers new lease for SSA in Delaware
SSA Field Office in Lewes, Delaware. Pictured left to right: SSA’s Reginald Johnson, Andre Doyle, Justin Dandridge, John McBeath and Bill Kengeter; GSA's Helene Pospischil, Ryan Squillante, Mike Getty, PJ O'Brien and Ray Nettles.
GSA recently completed the procurement and build out of a 6,700 square foot lease for a Social Security Administration (SSA) Field Office in Georgetown, Delaware, utilizing a new turnkey pilot program that successfully reduced the project timeline by nearly 11 months.
The GSA Mid-Atlantic Region manages 65 SSA lease projects at any given time; 90% of the leases are SSA Field Offices, with a typical project lifecycle of three years from requirements development to final tenant occupancy. Two main drivers of the project length are design and tenant improvement cost negotiations, which can result in costly lease extensions and escalated construction costs.
In an effort to reduce the project lifecycle, GSA and SSA developed a turnkey lease model, which features a replicable agency specific requirements document and an expedited design schedule with SSA-approved space layouts.
GSA collaborated with SSA to test the turnkey model for the expiring field office lease in Georgetown, which required moving to a new location. The team procured a new lease and began construction in only six months, avoiding cost escalations and a lease extension. SSA moved into the new lease in April 2024, 11 months faster than the typical project lifecycle.
As a result of the Georgetown project’s success, GSA is collaborating with SSA on a second field office project using this turnkey model.
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