Office of Property and Environmental Management (OPEM)
Mission
OPEM provides Department-wide administration, leadership, oversight, and policy in the areas of property, fleet and environmental management. This includes issuing guidance and policy, managing data, leasing oversight and compliance and assisting customers for real and personal property management, utilization and disposal; fleet card; and fleet, transportation, and aviation management. Additionally, OPEM develops and administers policy and guidance for environmental management at USDA, including response and restoration, environmental compliance, and sustainable operations.
Leadership
Divisions
- Environmental Management Division
The Environmental Management Division (EMD)’s primary mission is to provide leadership, policy guidance, and services for environmental protection, natural resource restoration, and sustainability management to reduce USDA’s environmental footprint through two teams:
Response and Restoration Team
EMD’s Response and Restoration Team oversees USDA’s environmental management of hazardous materials, including the following functions:
- Prioritizing and funding the cleanup of USDA’s hazardous waste sites
- Developing USDA policy on pollution prevention and environmental compliance
- Coordinating environmental management systems implementation
- Ensuring USDA minimizes environmental liabilities for property transfers
- Promoting brownfield redevelopment to improve quality of life in rural America
- Coordinating emergency preparedness and response to oil spills and hazardous substance releases as part of the U.S. National Response Team and Emergency Support Function #10
Sustainable Practices Team
EMD’s Sustainable Practices Team facilitates the development and implementation of sustainability policies and procedures with the goal of achieving a net-zero environmental footprint at USDA facilities through the following programs and strategies:
- Energy efficiency and reduction
- Renewable energy use
- Water conservation and reduction
- Energy performance contracting
- High performance sustainable buildings
- Sustainable acquisition
- Waste reduction & recycling
- Electronics stewardship
The Sustainable Practices Team leads the USDA’s implementation of Executive Order 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability (PDF, 246 KB). Additional information on USDA’s sustainability goals and progress is available in the annual Sustainability Plan (PDF, 410 KB) and the annual Scorecard for Federal Sustainability (PDF, 623 KB) developed by the Office of Management and Budget.
- Leasing Oversight and Compliance Division
The Leasing Oversight and Compliance Division audits lease contracts, identifies and develops training and identify potential cost savings in the acquisition and management of the USDA real property leased inventory. This division incorporates the involvement of USDA agencies that award and administer direct leases for USDA.
- Property Management Division
As part of Departmental Administration’s (DA’s) Office of Property and Environmental Management (OPEM), the Property Management Division’s (PMD) mission is to provide excellent leadership and expertise to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) agencies, staff offices, other Federal agencies and the private sector on a variety of fleet, real and personal property management and policy issues. PMD works in partnership with USDA’s agencies to effectively acquire, manage and dispose of all USDA fleet, real and personal property. In furtherance of this mission, PMD issues guidance and policy, manages data, issues reports, and assists customers to implement current requirements and best practices related to office space leasing, USDA-owned real and personal property, and sustainable facilities and fleet operations
Fleet Management
The Department owns and operates the second largest civilian motor vehicle fleet and one of the largest civilian aircraft fleets in the Federal Government. The fleet inventory accounts for about $5 billion in personal property.
USDA’s fleet consists of more than 37,000 vehicles that are owned and leased from GSA, with a few commercial leases. Most of USDA’s fleet is agency-owned light duty trucks and sedans located in cities, rural communities, and National Forests across the country and overseas. These vehicles are used to support the Department’s extensive and varied missions, including food safety inspections, agricultural research, fire prevention/suppression, and law enforcement. The complexity of USDA mission requirements and the overall size and nationwide dispersion of the fleet make meeting and striving to exceed federal target goals a challenging effort that requires the commitment of all our agency fleet managers.
The fleet portfolio is comprised of 14 sub-agency fleets. The following 4 sub-agencies make up 86% of the entire fleet: Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Forest Service (FS), and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). FY 2017 annual fleet operating costs was $169 million and a total of 341 million miles driven.
A quick summary of USDA’s motor vehicle fleet is presented below:
- Total of 37,163 vehicles
- 25.8% GSA leased,
- 74.2% Agency owned
- 0.1% Commercially leased
- 52% Alternative fuel vehicles 3.38% Alternative fuel consumed in 2019
- The motor vehicles reported by USDA agencies are categorized by the following vehicle weights:
- 76% of the USDA Motor Vehicle Fleet are Light Duty Vehicles (LDV)
- 4% of the USDA Motor Vehicle Fleet are Heavy Duty Vehicles (HDV)
- 20% of the USDA Motor Vehicle Fleet are Medium Duty Vehicles (MDV)
Personal Property Management
The Personal Property staff develops regulations, standards, and techniques concerning receipt, utilization, preservation, disposal, and replacement of personal property. They manage and coordinate USDA's personal property, motor vehicle, aircraft, and transportation programs and respond to external requests for information related to personal property.
Acting for the National Property Management Utilization Officer, they establish accountability thresholds and inventory control procedures for logistically managing Departmental assets; establish repair, replacement and utilization standards to maximize property utilization; and establish policies for the disposal of unneeded assets. PMD provides guidance in managing the USDA Excess Personal Property Program. Plan, promulgate, and evaluate special Secretarial property policy initiatives, such as the USDA/1890 Task Force Excess Personal Property Initiative. Collaborate with other offices to coordinate policy activities regarding minority education institutions.
Inventory
Property Disposal Method Sum of Original Acquisition Cost Abandon/Destroy (A/D) $157,083 EO 12999 (CFL) $19,982,288 Sales – Surplus via Sales Center $56,833,984 Stevenson-Wydler $431,178 Surplus (Donation Program) $8,412,384 - Total Personal Property Portfolio: 201,188 accountable items with a $4.6 billion acquisition cost;
- Computers for Learning: 4,166 items with an acquisition cost of $10 million were donated in FY 2017
Real Property Management
PMD provides leadership and oversight in developing, improving and maintaining USDA's real and personal property programs to include property acquisition, utilization, and disposal in compliance with Departmental and Federal laws, regulations and policies including Executive Orders. PMD represents the Department and provides liaison for the USDA agencies with other government agencies, private sector, and nonprofit organizations in property management activities and working groups. Staff coordinate the preparation, review and analysis, and submission of Department-wide reports to oversight organizations. Staff develop and administer Departmental principles, policies, and objectives supporting management programs for real and personal property assets.
USDA follows Federal Management and General Services Acquisition Regulations. PMD is responsible to develop policies, standards, and techniques concerning the receipt, utilization and procedures for the location and housing of USDA activities, preservation, disposal, and replacement of real property to ensure that best use and value to the government and the public. The PMD staff oversee and coordinate USDA's real property actions including: USDA’s Federal Real Property Profile reporting and inquiries in response, coordinate Title V submission and annual reporting and HUD Quarterly Canvas response per the McKinney Vento Act related to excess real property, delegated leasing, space management, and acquisition management activities and responds to external requests for information related to real property.
Real Property personnel also provide support to USDA's agencies that are responsible for real property assets supporting their program areas. Some of the efforts include updating real property directives, the Lease Contracting Officer Warrant Program, promoting the efficient and economical use of real property assets and assure management accountability for implementing Federal real property management reforms, and providing leadership in Government-wide real property asset management initiatives promulgated by OMB.
USDA owns approximately 193 million acres of land, making it the second largest civilian landholding Agency in the Federal Government. The Department occupies about 55 million square feet of owned and leased building space combined and spends approximately $470 million on leases and space assignments annually.
Inventory
Effective real property asset management policies are critical to USDA. As the second largest civilian agency landholder in the Federal Government, and the fifth largest agency in terms of building square foot usage, the Department's real property portfolio consists of the following assets. Please note that numbers provided are approximations, as the data is constantly changing based on actions in the field that are continually updated in USDA’s official system of record, the Corporate Property Automated Information System (CPAIS):
- Owned Buildings: 20,086 owned buildings totaling 40 million square feet;
- Owned Structures: 19,420 owned structures;
- Total Operations and Maintenance for Owned Buildings and Structures: $809 million;
- Leased Buildings: 14.86 million square feet of leased building space with $25 million in annual rent;
- GSA Space: 1,066 GSA space assignments, consisting of 12 million rentable square feet with $225 million in annual rent;
- Total Replacement Value of Portfolio: $50 billion.
- Land: 193 million acres of land, 99% of which is public domain and stewardship land. Only four USDA agencies possess authority to own land - the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Forest Service (FS) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).