As the federal government continues assessing its stock of facilities nationwide, the process is creating uncertainty among occupants of the buildings, as well as facilities managers and their staffs. But the actions of the organization leading the effort appear to be causing more than just confusion.
The head of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) said recently that when the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) took over USIP’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, it led to “rats and roaches in the building.”
George Moose, USIP’s president and chief executive officer, said recently that he learned the D.C. headquarters had “essentially been abandoned for many weeks” and were not “adequately protected or maintained” while DOGE was in charge.
Moose wrote that when he and his team returned to the building, they found that the only people on site were an insufficient number of security guards and cleaning crew members. Over the following days, his staff members documented the concerning condition DOGE had left the building in, citing “evidence of rats and roaches.”
Besides rodents and roaches, USIP staff reported other maintenance issues, including “water leaks, damage to the garage door, and missing ceiling tiles in multiple places in the building.” DOGE had also failed to maintain vehicle barriers or the building’s cooling tower, he said.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.?
