Managing Government Property Assets

Governments own a vast array of real property--from large stretches of land to public housing projects, from water distribution systems and roads to office buildings. Typically, management of public property is highly fragmented, with responsibility for each type of asset falling within a different agency or bureaucracy. In almost all countries, different classes of property are managed according to their own rules, often following traditional practices rather than any assessment of what type of management is appropriate. Over the past decade, however, a new discipline has emerged that examines this important component of public wealth and seeks to apply standards of economic efficiency and effective organizational management. Managing Government Property Assets reviews and analyzes this recent wave of activity. The authors draw upon a wide variety of national and local practices, both in countries that have been leaders in management reforms and in countries just beginning to wrestle with the problem. This comparison reveals that the issues of public property management are surprisingly similar in different countries, despite striking differences in institutional contexts and policy solutions.

This text is the foremost compilation of information about managing the public sector fixed assets function. No two-fixed assets management functions are alike and there is no real collective information bank for the managers to use. Not only are management principles provided, but also definitions of some key settings in managing fixed assets from defining fixed assets to accountability for those assets. This text was written to help better operate the day-to-day affairs of the public sector fixed assets management function. The information presented here is not new; however, the information is not contained in one concise location. The concepts and principles presented here are of interest to all-public sector administrators. However, those individuals working in the day-to-day operations are those who will find this text most interesting. It should be used to stimulate conversation and communication on the subject of personal property management. In so doing, the expectation is that these conversations and communications will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of personal property management. The public sector is an area that relies on sound management practices and the management on those assets entrusted to us is no exception. Within the confines of this text will be found sound management practices to further the overall effectiveness of fixed assets management.

In many public sector organisations, there has been little or no adoption of a proactive asset management strategy. Where an extensive property portfolio exists, this can result in poor overall utilisation of the portfolio, exemplified by excessive vacant property or properties not being put to best use. In such situations there is a risk that the building stock deteriorates more rapidly than expected, leading to expensive maintenance and repair charges. Lack of a proactive asset management strategy will impact on the services delivered by such organisations. Public Sector Property Asset Management covers all aspects of asset management in the public sector, including the overall concept, the development of asset management strategies and the implementation of asset management practices. It evaluates asset management strategies, processes and practices to show how effective management of property assets support business activities or service delivery functions. The reader will understand the importance of improving decision-making through the recognition of all costs of owning and operating those assets throughout their lifecycle, leading to improved business process activities or service delivery functions which greatly assist in meeting the social and economic objectives of such organisations. Written for all practitioners currently involved in asset management, the book will also be useful in the university environment, to those teaching, researching or learning about asset management in the public sector.

In many public sector organisations, there has been little or no adoption of a proactive asset management strategy. Where an extensive property portfolio exists, this can result in poor overall utilisation of the portfolio, exemplified by excessive vacant property or properties not being put to best use. In such situations there is a risk that the building stock deteriorates more rapidly than expected, leading to expensive maintenance and repair charges. Lack of a proactive asset management strategy will impact on the services delivered by such organisations. Public Sector Property Asset Management covers all aspects of asset management in the public sector, including the overall concept, the development of asset management strategies and the implementation of asset management practices. It evaluates asset management strategies, processes and practices to show how effective management of property assets support business activities or service delivery functions. The reader will understand the importance of improving decision-making through the recognition of all costs of owning and operating those assets throughout their lifecycle, leading to improved business process activities or service delivery functions which greatly assist in meeting the social and economic objectives of such organisations. Written for all practitioners currently involved in asset management, the book will also be useful in the university environment, to those teaching, researching or learning about asset management in the public sector.

We have spent the last three decades engaged in a pointless and irrelevant debate about the relative merits of privatization or nationalization. We have been arguing about the wrong thing while sitting on a goldmine of assets. Don’t worry about who owns those assets, worry about whether they are managed effectively. Why does this matter? Because despite the Thatcher/ Reagan economic revolution, the largest pool of wealth in the world – a global total that is much larger than the world’s total pensions savings, and ten times the total of all the sovereign wealth funds on the planet – is still comprised of commercial assets that are held in public ownership. If professionally managed, they could generate an annual yield of 2.7 trillion dollars, more than current global spending on infrastructure: transport, power, water, and communications. Based on both economic research and hands-on experience from many countries, the authors argue that publicly owned commercial assets need to be taken out of the direct and distorting control of politicians and placed under professional management in a ‘National Wealth Fund’ or its local government equivalent. Such a move would trigger much-needed structural reforms in national economies, thus resurrect strained government finances, bolster ailing economic growth, and improve the fabric of democratic institutions. This radical, reforming book was named one of the "Books of the Year".by both the FT and The Economist.

Property has unique characteristics, both as an investment and as an operational holding. A thorough understanding of this dual role is needed by professionals responsible for maximising a property's full potential. Property Asset Management emphasizes the need for a strategic plan in property management as well as for efficient day-to-day practice.