The average age of the 130,000 buildings in the public sector portfolio is 50 years, the typical design life for infrastructure in the United States. Many buildings are not only beyond their useful life, but also have an average occupancy of only 30%. Government real estate leaders are navigating aging infrastructure and escalating deferred maintenance backlogs of $370 billion, shrinking capital budgets, and increasing pressure to demonstrate transparency and accountability in how public funds are allocated.
Unfortunately, many agencies lack reliable, portfolio-wide data to determine which investments to prioritize and then justify those decisions to stakeholders. “There are a lot of gaps and inconsistencies in data today,” explains Monique Derrick, Head of Government Facilities Management at JLL. “Better data continuity allows leaders to demonstrate fiscal responsibility and document how they are allocating taxpayer dollars.”
Facilities condition assessments can help bridge those gaps. They provide the data foundation that allows facilities management to make more informed decisions about capital investments, portfolio strategy, and long-term asset planning across public-sector portfolios. They also offer agencies a strategic way to incrementally work out of a maintenance backlog by moving from a break-fix strategy to planned maintenance.
“Staying in the break-fix mindset versus a planned, linear curve allows maintenance costs to rise exponentially,” notes Trevor Clark, PE, Global Lead of Asset Services at JLL. “This only compounds across an entire portfolio.” Agencies can use FCA findings to decide when continued maintenance makes sense and when replacement is a better investment.
Operational Realities of Managing Public Portfolios
Government facility managers face unique challenges their private-sector counterparts typically don't encounter. They operate under strict regulatory, security, and budgetary constraints rather than profitability and market value.
- Extended timelines. The red tape inherent in government operations often requires longer timelines, so gathering baseline information about the state of your portfolio is critical to expedite decision-making. Using an FCA to establish that baseline also lets you rank the maintenance backlog by risk, then anchor it to a capital planning strategy.
- Fiscal accountability under a public lens. This matters most when public funds are at stake. Leaders must show stakeholders that their facility investments are thoughtfully planned, well spent, and improving the portfolio's condition. “Agency leaders are accountable to the public to disclose and share information about how taxpayer dollars are being spent to tackle aging infrastructure,” explains Jeff Manas, Global Head of Real Estate Due Diligence Services at JLL.
Documentation and consistent data from FCAs can help track and plan investments, making it easier to communicate with the public and stakeholders about how leaders are spending and prioritizing taxpayer money.
- Shrinking budgetary allocations. Increasingly limited funding is also a challenge unique to the government. When you have a massive portfolio and buildings are 30% occupied, it changes the perspective on where those dollars are spent and how to triage building maintenance. An FCA allows facility managers to develop capital planning scenarios that are more likely to gain buy-in from leadership – and potentially garner more funding.
- Siloed agencies. The public sector is much more siloed than the commercial sector, where real estate transactions and capital typically sit at the same table. In the public sector, facility management, capital planning, and portfolio sit in their own worlds and aren't organically entwined. It takes more effort to create visibility across organizations on investment decisions and build a big-picture view of the overall portfolio.
Prioritize Investments and Strategic Decision Making with Portfolio-Wide FCA Data
Government agencies that take the time and effort to conduct facilities condition assessments are setting themselves up for success. They’ll be able to:
- Avoid reactive maintenance, which is more subject to increasing costs, supply chain constraints, fluctuating energy prices, and global volatility.
- Balance maintenance with replacement so they don't push everything into more expensive capital projects.
- Prevent further erosion of maintenance programs, which have been dwindling for decades.
Having an FCA in hand gives agencies the data they need to plan maintenance logically, make defensible investment decisions, and leverage buying power before emergencies arise. “You can accurately forecast capital needs and make fiscally responsible decisions when you’re not at the mercy of the market and contractor availability,” says Manas. “Ultimately, facilities condition assessments give government agencies a clear picture of facility conditions so they can decide where to focus energy, resources, and capital across a large portfolio.”
While facilities condition assessments provide valuable insight into asset health and capital needs, they represent just one component of an effective facilities management strategy. Download JLL's latest insight, What Modern Facilities Management Delivers for Government, to explore five key questions that can help agencies improve asset visibility, strengthen capital planning, support workforce continuity, and enhance long-term portfolio performance.
