U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE LEASE DEAL TO SAVE TAXPAYERS $3.8 MILLION

FROM:  GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
GSA Announces New Lease for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Deal saves $3.8 million dollars in lease payments annually
Contact: Chris Tollefson (USFWS) (703) 358-2222 chris_tollefson@fws.gov

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced a new lease agreement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) headquarters in Virginia, which will consolidate three expiring leases in the region and save taxpayers more than $3.8 million dollars annually for the next fifteen years. The building provides nearly 183,000 square feet of office space for the Service to deliver on its mission to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

The new lease offers the Service a much lower rental rate from their current leases and includes three years of free rent. The annual rental rate will decrease by $6 a square foot, which is a 17 percent reduction. Additionally, the new lease reduces the agency’s footprint by 72,233 square feet.

The lease award is the result of an open and competitive procurement. The selected offer met all the minimum requirements of the Request for Lease Proposals and was the lowest priced offer providing the best overall value to the taxpayers.

The agency's headquarters will move from their current location in Ballston to 5275 Leesburg Pike in Falls Church, Virginia in summer of 2014.

The new facility, owned by Vornado-Charles E. Smith, will utilize efficient space planning allowing the Service to minimize its physical footprint. The new facility will also use less energy and water than typical office buildings.

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About the U.S. General Services Administration The mission of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to the government and the American people.

About the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals, and commitment to public service.

USDA SEEKS SELF-IMPROVEMENT

The following excerpt is from the United States Department of Agriculture website:
"	Inspection would focus on areas most critical to ensuring food safety, save taxpayers more than $90 million over three years and lower production costs by more than $256 million annually
	WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2012 – In a shift that will save money for businesses and taxpayers while improving food safety, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is proposing a modernization of young chicken and turkey slaughter inspection in the United States by focusing FSIS inspection resources on the areas of the poultry production system that pose the greatest risk to food safety. "The modernization plan will protect public health, improve the efficiency of poultry inspections in the U.S., and reduce spending," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. "The new inspection system will reduce the risk of foodborne illness by focusing FSIS inspection activities on those tasks that advance our core mission of food safety. By revising current procedures and removing outdated regulatory requirements that do not help combat foodborne illness, the result will be a more efficient and effective use of taxpayer dollars." Currently, some FSIS employees in poultry establishments perform several activities which are unrelated to food safety, such as identifying visual defects like bruising, while others conduct the critical inspection activities. Under the proposed plan, all FSIS inspection activities will focus on critical food safety tasks to ensure that agency resources are tied directly to protecting public health and reducing foodborne illnesses. Additionally, some outdated regulatory requirements are being removed and replaced with more flexible and effective testing and process control requirements. Finally, all poultry establishments will now have to ensure that their procedures prevent contamination in the production process and provide supporting data to FSIS personnel. By focusing inspectors only on the areas that are crucial to food safety, these changes will not only enhance consumer safety but will improve efficiency saving taxpayers more than $90 million over three years and lower production costs at least $256.6 million per year. FSIS will continue to conduct on-line carcass-by-carcass inspection as mandated by law. This rule will allow FSIS personnel to conduct a more efficient carcass-by-carcass inspection with agency resources focused on more effective food safety measures. Data collected by the Agency over the past several years suggests that offline inspection activities are more effective in improving food safety. Inspection activities conducted off the evisceration line include pathogen sampling, and verifying that establishments are maintaining sanitary conditions and controlling food safety hazards at critical points in the production process. The proposal was posted today on the FSIS website atwww.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/Proposed_Rules/index.asp and soon will publish in the Federal Register. The comment period will end 90 days after the proposal publishes in the Federal Register and must be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov, or by mail to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), FSIS, OPPD, RIMD, Docket Clearance Unit, Patriots Plaza III, Room 8-164, 355 E Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-3221. All items submitted by mail or electronic mail must include the Agency name and docket number, which will be assigned when it is published in the Federal Register. Over the past two years, FSIS has announced several new measures to safeguard the food supply, prevent foodborne illness, and improve consumers' knowledge about the food they eat. These initiatives support the three core principles developed by the President's Food Safety Working Group: prioritizing prevention; strengthening surveillance and enforcement; and improving response and recovery. Some of these actions include: Performance standards for poultry establishments for continued reductions in the occurrence of pathogens. After two years of enforcing the new standards, FSIS estimates that approximately 5,000 illnesses will be prevented each year under the new Campylobacter standards, and approximately 20,000 illnesses will be prevented under the revised Salmonella standards each year. Zero tolerance policy for six Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) serogroups. Raw ground beef, its components, and tenderized steaks found to contain E. coli O26, O103, O45, O111, O121 or O145 will be prohibited from sale to consumers. USDA will launch a testing program to detect these dangerous pathogens and prevent them from reaching consumers. Test and hold policy that will significantly reduce consumer exposure to unsafe meat products, should the policy become final, because products cannot be released into commerce until Agency test results for dangerous contaminants are known. Labeling requirements that provide better information to consumers about their food by requiring nutrition information for single-ingredient raw meat and poultry products and ground or chopped products. Public Health Information System, a modernized, comprehensive database about public health trends and food safety violations at the nearly 6,100 plants FSIS regulates."