Jefferson City News

Congressman Bob Onder’s bill, H.R. 3424, known as the Shared Property Agency Collaboration and Engagement (SPACE) Act of 2025, has passed in the House of Representatives. The legislation directs the General Services Administration (GSA) to work with tenants of federally leased spaces to address concerns related to shared-space arrangements among federal agencies.

The SPACE Act aims to promote more efficient use of federal property by encouraging agencies located near each other to share or collocate space. It also seeks ways for special-use spaces to contribute to these arrangements and sets up measurable goals for evaluating their effectiveness.

Congressman Onder stated, “This will ensure government efficiency and save taxpayers’ hard earned money. When I came to D.C. I was shocked to learn that many federal buildings throughout our country are nowhere near full or are sitting empty. Agencies often fail to share space and have large vacancies, even though they are only blocks from each other. The SPACE Act will require GSA to work with our Federal Agencies to address concerns about shared-space arrangements. In the long-term, this will save Americans money by consolidating the number of buildings our government owns, maintains, and pays for. Streamlining our government and saving taxpayer dollars are two of the major reasons I came to Washington, so I’m proud to champion this important reform.”

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves commented on the legislation: “Congressman Onder’s SPACE Act will help save taxpayer dollars by helping identify opportunities for federal agencies to increase the use of shared-space arrangements, building upon the public building reforms this committee continues to push for. I want to thank Dr. Onder for his leadership on this important bill that will help ensure the federal real estate portfolio is right-sized.”

The passage of this act reflects ongoing efforts in Congress aimed at improving how federal properties are managed and reducing costs associated with unused or underused government buildings.