A new report from Open the Books revealed that the federal government spent billions of dollars to furnish government buildings and agencies that were mostly without staff during the pandemic:
Despite federal employees working from home, the agencies continued to splurge on furniture purchases. There was no material difference in the amount federal agencies collectively spent on office furniture between the years 2018 and 2022.
In total, eight departments spent around $3.3 billion on the acquisition of furniture.
Department spending
The report states that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent $237,960 "on solar-powered picnic tables." The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) spent $284,000 "in Herman Miller furniture for their headquarters conference center."
Separately, the State Department purchased $120,000 worth of "brand-new Ethan Allen leather recliners for its embassy in Islamabad." The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was also one of those involved, spending nearly $250,000 "on a conference room 'refresh' with expensive, high-end Herman Miller furniture."
The Environmental Protection Agency increased its furniture stock despite reducing the size of its Philadelphia offices. The report states that it "used relocation as a license to redecorate $6.5 million on high end furniture when moving into smaller space at Four Penn Central."
Minimal use of buildings
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study published in July reported that in-person staffing at federal agency headquarters was between 9% and 35%. This was caused by several factors: an "increased number of staff working remotely, outdated building configurations, historic utilization problems, and a reluctance for agency leaders to share space with other agencies." Adam Andrzejewski, founder and CEO of Open the Books stated:
In the case of office furniture, most federal headquarters are barely a quarter full on a given workday, and no major agency is at more than half capacity. Yet for some reason we’ve bankrolled another billion dollars in desks, chairs, couches and more — while employees clock in from their own living rooms.
