Question Period Note: OAG Report – Current and Future Use of Federal Office Space

The Auditor General found that TBS’s ability to provide leadership and coordination for the federal real property portfolio was reduced after TBS’s Centre for Expertise for Real Property was dissolved. The Auditor General also found that with the increased presence of government employees in the workplace announced by TBS in May 2024, PSPC lost most of its flexibility to achieve its plan to reduce the government’s use of office space by 50% over 10 years. What will TBS do to re-establish its leadership and finish implementing the recommendations of the Horizontal Fixed Asset Review?

• The Government is committed to sound management of its real property.
• The Auditor General report acknowledges that good progress was made in real property management by Treasury Board Secretariat’s Centre of Expertise and recommended that we assess our capacity to resume its work.
• While funding expired in 2024 and the Centre was wound down, the Secretariat continues to provide guidance and support to federal organizations.
• This year, we will also review and prioritize additional work that could be undertaken, taking into consideration feedback from the real property community.

If pressed about the impacts of the increased office presence of federal government employees on PSPC’s plan to reduce office space by 50%:
• My department and other partners are helping Public Services and Procurement Canada to review different ways of reducing the government’s use of office space by 50% over 10 years. Public Services and Procurement Canada will complete its review this fall.

This audit explored the Government’s current and future use of its office portfolio, including the use of surplus assets to support investments in housing. The audit scoped in Public Services and Procurement Canada, Housing Infrastructure and Communities Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the Treasury Board Secretariat. The Treasury Board Secretariat’s role included the sunsetted Centre of Expertise for Real Property, which was part of the Office of the Comptroller General from 2021-2024, as well as the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer and the Direction on Prescribed Presence in the Workplace.
The OAG audit found that TBS’s ability to provide leadership and coordination for the federal real property portfolio was reduced after TBS’s Centre for Expertise for Real Property was dissolved. The Centre had been established in 2021 with time-limited funding to help ensure that the federal real property portfolio would be modern, agile and right-sized. The Centre wound down in 2024 when the funding sunsetted.

Further to this finding, the report recommended that TBS should assess its capacity and resources and, as appropriate, resume the work of the former Centre of Expertise for Real Property to enhance the management of federal real property.
TBS agreed with the recommendation. In response, TBS indicated that it, through the Office of the Comptroller General, supports the overall improvement of the management of federal real property as part of its core mandate. These core activities, which include delivering guidance and training, and supporting interdepartmental governance, provide leadership to the real property community and support the management of real property across the Government.

TBS’ ability to provide hands-on support to custodians and leadership in implementing the 119 recommendations from the Horizontal Fixed Asset Review (FAR) diminished upon the dissolution of the Centre of Expertise for Real Property, as that had been its mandate.
In 2025-2026, TBS will review and prioritize the outstanding FAR recommendations, taking into consideration feedback from the real property community. Following this review, TBS will consider options to address the identified priorities, including exploring funding strategies and identifying what can be delivered with existing resources.
The report also referred to TBS in a finding that more work is needed to reach PSPC’s 10-year plan to reduce government office space by 50%. In particular, the report found that with the increased presence of government employees in the workplace announced by TBS in May 2024, most of the built-in flexibility was lost in PSPC’s office space reduction plan.

In response to a recommendation, PSPC agreed that it would work with central agencies and other departments to explore with federal tenants how to reduce the office space they occupy.

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