State department planning and real estate: We don't pick our markets either

Abstract

This paper establishes the United States Department of State as a major corporate/international real-estate presence. It discusses the evolution of the Department's planning and real-estate activities since 1998 and the US embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. Particular attention is dedicated to the Directorate of Planning and Real Estate (PRE) within the Department's Bureau of Overseas Building Operations and its programme-level planning for US$1.4bn in annual embassy and consulate con-struction and a multi-billion dollar maintenance budget. Numerous examples are provided of how PRE is committed to constant self-examination, improvement, and adopting industry and government best practices. Finally, the paper highlights experiences and lessons learned from recent transactions from around the world and answers the question of whether international real estate is materially different from domestic real es-tate. The author hopes readers will come away confident in the federal government providing sound stew-ardship of the United States’ large and valuable international real-estate portfolio.