This includes physical items such as office supplies, furniture, automobiles, and heavy machinery
U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.) introduced bipartisan legislation to hold agencies more accountable to the public on how they reuse excess federal property.
Federally-owned personal property includes physical items such as office supplies, furniture, automobiles, and heavy machinery. The federal government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the world, and this bill would encourage federal agencies to consider reusing the surplus property of other agencies – available at no cost apart from any necessary transportation – before buying new products to save taxpayer dollars, a news release said.
“Every year government agencies purchase new office supplies, equipment and vehicles even though other agencies may already own surplus items that could meet those needs in a more cost-effective way,” said Peters, Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “My bipartisan bill would ensure agencies can save taxpayer dollars and maintain the supplies they need by reusing excess property the government already owns.”
The Reuse Excess Property Act would update existing requirements for agencies to report their excess personal property to the General Services Administration by making those reports available to the public as well. This would help agency officials and taxpayers better understand the extent to which agencies are working to cut wasteful spending through the use of excess property.