The Evolution of Facility Asset Management

Asset Management Foundations Miniseries

This newsletter will detail the origins and evolution of Facility Asset Management in the US Government. This is an important and emerging discipline because the US Government owns and operates one of the largest and most complex facility portfolios in the world. This portfolio includes more than 3,000,000,000 square feet or approximately 280,000,000 square meters of building space. 

The origins of modern US Government Facility Asset Management policy are found in the Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949. At that point in time America was emerging from World War II. Prior to the war America was an industrialized country working its way out of the Great Depression of the 1930s. After the war, America was a world power, and with that came the responsibility of employing and managing vast, complex capabilities and asset portfolios. The Property and Administrative Services Act established new management authorities and expectations to include the management of real property ass…