GBI’s Green Globes Certification Accepted for GSA’s Federal Leasing Activities

Washington ― The Green Building Initiative (GBI) applauds the decision by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to recognize GBI’s Green Globes certification as an allowable certification program for use in the GSA’s federal leasing activities. This decision comes after the GSA’s Office of Leasing completed a months-long review and update of its leasing documents. The revised documents were finalized Oct. 12, but only recently made available on GSA’s website at GSA.gov(1). The revisions to GSA’s Request for Lease Proposals (RLP) and Lease templates now recognize Green Globes for New Construction (Green Globes NC) as an option for new construction leased spaces where green building certification is required for any building over 10,000 square feet, as well as Green Globes for Sustainable Interiors (Green Globes SI), which can be used as an option for tenant improvements.

“The reputation of Green Globes as a credible, practical, and comprehensive third-party certification program is growing, and we are excited to earn GSA’s backing,” Vicki Worden, Executive Director of GBI stated. “The majority of federal agencies use leased space. Allowing the use of Green Globes provides the market with another option to make the footprint of green building-certified space even bigger.”

The GSA Office of Leasing is a growing segment of the GSA’s work within the federal footprint. Over the past decade, the GSA’s percentage of owned versus leased federal office space has shifted, with the Office of Leasing now overseeing about 51 percent of its total federal government portfolio.

“We look forward to showcasing how Green Globes is a cost-effective, accessible, and collaborative green building certification program,” said Jay Thomas, Chair of GBI’s Board of Directors. “GBI’s mission is to accelerate adoption of green building best practices. GSA’s recognition of multiple certification programs will help us to accomplish that mission by opening the market to competition and innovation; it’s good government policy.”

“We greatly appreciate the work done by the GSA and the Office of Leasing to learn more about Green Globes and how GBI continues to meet the needs of the federal government,” noted Worden. “We recognize that these decisions take considerable time and effort to vet thoroughly, and we are grateful to both the Office of Leasing and Administrator Roth for making that effort.”

To date, GBI has certified 592 federal buildings through Green Globes and/or its Guiding Principles Compliance program, which is a third-party assessment program specifically tailored for federal agencies. Agencies that have leveraged GBI’s programs for their certification efforts include: GSA, Dept. of Energy, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, NASA, National Institutes of Health, Dept. of State, U.S. Navy, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Farm Service Administration.

The new leasing guidelines by GSA are effective immediately, and apply to all GSA real property leasing activities and to activities delegated by GSA to other federal agencies.

For more information on GBI’s programs and services, visit http://www.thegbi.org. To review the information released by the GSA on their leasing policies and guidelines, click here.

[1] Leasing Alert (LA-FY17-01) – Revisions to RLP and Lease Templates, http://www.gsa.gov/portal/mediaId/152154/fileName/Leasing_Alert_(LA-FY17-01)_Revisions_to_RLP_and_Lease_Templates.action.

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About the Green Building Initiative™ − The GBI is a nonprofit organization and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Standards Developer dedicated to accelerating the adoption of green building best practices. Founded in 2004, the organization is the sole U.S. provider of the Green Globes® and federal Guiding Principles Compliance building certification programs. To learn more about opportunities to become involved in the GBI, contact info@thegbi.org or visit the GBI website, www.thegbi.org.

A PDF of this Press Release can be found here .