in multiple wavelengths as it

The rapid pace of cancellations has raised alarms, with some agencies and lawmakers appealing to DOGE to exempt specific buildings. Several agencies are facing 20 or more lease cancellations in all, including the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Geological Survey.Many of the terminations would affect agencies that aren’t as well-known but oversee services critical to many Americans.

Do you have a confidential tip for an AP reporter?They span from a Boise, Idaho, office of the Bureau of Reclamation — which oversees water supply andacross the often-parched American West — to a Joliet, Illinois, outpost of the Railroad Retirement Board, which provides benefits for railroad workers and their survivors.

Workers enter the Bureau of Reclamation office Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)Workers enter the Bureau of Reclamation office Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)

The lease terminations do not mean all the locations will close. In some cases, agencies may negotiate new leases to stay in place, downsize their existing space or relocate elsewhere.

“Some agencies are saying: ‘I’m not leaving. We can’t leave,’” said Chad Becker, a former GSA real estate official who now represents building owners with government leases at Arco Real Estate Solutions. “I think there’s going to be a period of pushback, a period of disbelief. And then, if necessary, they may start working on the actual execution of a move.”To many veterans of the agency, the irony of DOGE’s slash-and-burn approach to GSA is that it is jeopardizing one of the agency’s longstanding missions: improving government efficiency.

The agency, for example, had an in-house consulting shop that during the first Trump administration focused on improving government services, especially those relying on technology. Among its initiatives, the team helped create systems to allow Americans to file taxes online and was working to improve online passport renewal.In the early weeks of the second Trump administration, DOGE officials gutted the team. Shedd defended that move, telling employees in a meeting that the team was eliminated because its work was not cost-effective, according to a transcript of his remarks.

Any reduction in headcount could also jeopardize the government’s ability to police contracts once they are issued to keep costs down.Such decisions have baffled those who have tracked GSA’s work.