by Zach Mortice
Associate Editor

Summary: With a historic opportunity to remake federal buildings across the nation and contribute to the economy’s recovery, Bob Peck, Hon. AIA, has been appointed as the General Services Administration commissioner of public buildings—the second time he’s held this post. Peck’s return to the GSA has put him in charge of the design, construction, leasing, building management, and security of 354 million square feet of federal buildings that are the workplace for 1 million federal employees. It’s also put him in charge of the $5.5 billion worth of economic stimulus package money that’s funding hundreds of GSA design and construction projects, from simple energy efficiency renovations to entire new federal agency headquarters.

Peck first was the GSA public buildings commissioner during the Clinton Administration, when he helped to establish its Design Excellence program with then-chief architect Ed Feiner, FAIA. Prior to his first stint at the GSA, Peck worked at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, the National Endowment for the Arts, and as associate counsel to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, as well as chief of staff to the late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Additionally, Peck was previously the vice president for public affairs at the AIA. Immediately before returning to the GSA, Peck was managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle, where he advised corporations, governments, and nonprofits on real estate portfolio strategy.

This time, Peck says his mission is clear: To support the still-reeling economy by providing work for green collar professionals and to accelerate the development of sustainable design and construction practices. “To the extent that people thought they could submit for a GSA design before without being really conversant with green building ...” he says, “Those days are over.”

AIArchitect: In the last set of Design Excellence winners, a handful of firms cleaned up, garnering most of the awards. In the past there had been a more diverse field of winners. What’s the current status of the GSA Design Excellence program? Is it going to be as high a priority as it was during the tenure of Ed Feiner?

Peck: This is sort of a recurring urban myth. I came in shortly after Ed was here. I was working for the AIA when the Design Excellence program first started. Ever since, there has been this worry that the GSA only hires starchitects and doesn’t care about a diverse group. I think if you look over the course of the program we’ve given awards to firms [like] Bohlin Cywinski Jackson before anyone had even heard of them. We’ve identified regional talent that I think other people hadn’t seen before. We are looking to award projects to the widest range of high quality firms that we can find.

So the amount and quality of work the GSA produces through the Design Excellence is not going to diminish?

It’s not. All the work we do is through Design Excellence.

What about the effect of the federal stimulus package on all this? You’ve been tasked with giving out a lot of money very, very quickly. Can Design Excellence survive the speed at which you’re being asked to shovel this money out into the street and into the economy?

It’s got to. We’re not going to backslide. From the beginning of the Republic to WWII, we built some of the country’s best buildings. From WWII to the early 90s, we built some of the country’s not-so-great buildings. We’re not going to go back to the old ways.

Here’s our commitment: We didn’t go down this road, nor did the Obama Administration, to build and renovate GSA buildings and make them any bit less good than we do normally. We’re not lowering the bar for quality in Design Excellence projects. Our goal is to get as wide-ranging and as diverse a group of architects as we can. That should be the same whether it’s a Recovery Act project or not.

When the stimulus package was first drafted there was a lot of concern in the architecture community that all the projects it funded would be “shovel ready” construction projects, and that would preclude much design work. Is there a lot of design work to be had in the ARRA at the GSA at least?

The first [funding we released] was for projects that were already designed and ready to go. Fortunately, we had a pipeline of other projects in which we had the requirements and programs, but we still need the design.

How far along is the GSA in distributing their $5.5 billion of ARRA money?

We’ve awarded a little over a billion dollars by Aug. 31, which was our first deadline, and we expect to get to $2 billion by the end of this year. We’re on track. October of next year is when we have to get to $5 billion. I’m sure we’re going to get there.

In light of all the new federal stimulus money for projects at the GSA, what have you done differently to reach out to less established architecture firms that you haven’t worked with before and spread the word about the opportunities you’re offering?

We’ve been going to industry conferences. We’ve been trying to work through the associations, like the AIA, to let people know we’re open for business. I don’t know many architecture firms that aren’t good about scrambling to find [work].

Any other new priorities coming from the Obama Administration?

We see this as an opportunity to help accelerate the momentum that there already is in the building industry toward green building.

You’ve had this post at the GSA before in the Clinton Administration. This is your second time around. What have you learned and brought back for your second chance at this job?

Right now, clearly the issue that’s number one on our plate is getting Recovery Act projects done responsibly with really high quality and adding to the momentum of green building. When I came [to the GSA] before, the Design Excellence program was just getting off the ground, and I spent a decent amount of my energy working with Ed Feiner to establish a real toe hold.

The program had a near-miss experience in the last eight years that could have helped to slow its momentum at best and take us backwards at worst. Much to the credit, I think, of one former commissioner and a lot of the career people here, we avoided that. I came here this time to a firmly established program that’s really got deep roots in the organization.

When people talk about the GSA now in the building community, they talk about the Design Excellence program first. Part of my job is to make sure that continues. That’s right after I make sure the recovery projects get done on time.