Officials
of the U.S. General Services Administration say the American Reinvestment and
Recovery Act significantly increases resources to green federal buildings and
buy more alternative-fuel vehicles. The legislation includes $5.55 billion for
building projects and $300 million for fuel-efficient vehicles.
The
Recovery Act directs $4.5 billion to convert federal buildings to
high-performance green buildings, $750 million to renovate and construct
federal buildings and courthouses and $300 million to renovate and construct
land ports of entry.
The
agency also announced that it will create a nationally managed, regionally
executed program management office staffed with experts in various fields to
support regional teams delivering the projects.
GSA’s
Public Buildings Service is responsible for the design, construction, operation
and maintenance of thousands of federally-owned facilities for more than one
million civilian employees of the government at 60 different agencies.
Vehicle
acquisition is another service GSA provides for federal agencies through the
Federal Acquisition Service. The current GSA fleet contains about 80,000
alternative-fuel vehicles. GSA will work with federal agencies to determine the
best method to evaluate vehicles eligible for replacement and fund those that
would provide the largest benefit through decreased use of fuel and emission
reduction.
Lastly,
GSA is taking the lead to launch, manage and support www.recovery.gov – the official recovery
Web site of the federal government – to track recovery spending. Recovery.gov
will report the progress on the reinvestment funding for the American public.