The Colorado State Government ‘Reduce Our Footprint’ initiative

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the State of Colorado embarked on a state-wide initiative to reduce the State’s physical space called ‘Reduce Our Footprint’. This initiative included 21 state departments and agencies under the Governor’s purview and was led by the Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration. The Reduce Our Footprint initiative implemented a series of strategies built on the widespread use of remote and hybrid work as well as the opportunity to consolidate space, which supports employee desires for more flexible work options and saves money. Strategies included: comprehensive space needs analysis; state portfolio investment; lease contract and process improvements; unused and underutilised asset deployment; organisational changes; and new legislation. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Reduce Our Footprint initiative reduced state-owned and private-leased space by over 350,000ft2. This represents about a third of the initiative’s 1mft2 goal, which has the potential to save more than US$20m a year.