Bob Peck, new boss of GSA’s Public Buildings Service

Bob Peck is the new boss of General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service and it has been learnt that new appointment has taken place owing to the endorsement of the Obama administration. It is to be noted that Bob Peck, who was buildings commissioner under President Bill Clinton, was most recently managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

The General Services Administration (GSA) happens to be an independent agency of the United States government; it was established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. government offices, provides transportation and office space to federal employees, and develops government-wide cost-minimizing policies, among other management tasks. Its stated mission is to “help federal agencies better serve the public by offering, at best value, superior workplaces, expert solutions, acquisition services and management policies.”

Now as far as the Public Buildings Service is concerned, it is the primary landlord and real estate broker for the civilian federal government and acquires space and manages federal properties across the country. PBS owns or leases 8,600 properties and maintains more than 354 million square feet of workspace, including 96 million square feet in the Washington region.

What will be the main responsibility of the new boss? Bob Peck, being manager of the government’s vast building portfolio, will keep an eye on an annual budget of more than $8 billion and a work force of more than 6,200.

Is Bob Peck a worthy selection? Well, almost all praises vociferously the efficiency and persistent determination of him. When Peck served as commissioner from December 1995 to January 2001, his tenure included the government’s early pushes to maximize security in federal buildings after the attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. He, after leaving the public sector, joined The Staubach Co., which later merged with Jones Lang.