To transform federal buildings into higher-performing, greener buildings, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) awarded construction projects to more than 500 companies, creating jobs in 50 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia by investing $4 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds.
Since the passage of the ARRA, GSA infused funding into 391 projects. The agency made its ARRA funds go further through lower-than-anticipated competitive bids, funding $173 million of additional work to equip U.S. federal buildings with cost-saving, energy-conserving, sustainable features at no additional cost to the taxpayer.
GSA streamlined operations to award contracts quickly and begin construction on hundreds of green projects nationwide. GSA anticipates that all new construction and major modernization of buildings will achieve at least a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for GSA’s use of cutting-edge and sustainable design and technology.
Work is ongoing at hundreds of GSA ARRA projects across the country, including the construction of a new energy-efficient courthouse in Austin, Texas; the installation of a solar roof on the Veterans Affairs building in Philadelphia; and the conversion of a former World War II munitions plant in St. Louis into a high-performance green building.
GSA was appropriated more than $5.5 billion under the ARRA to convert federal facilities into high-performance green buildings and construct energy-efficient federal buildings, courthouses, and land ports of entry. In addition to creating jobs, these projects will deliver lasting progress toward building a more sustainable national infrastructure while reducing the federal government’s consumption of energy and water and increasing the use of clean and renewable energy sources.