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In a swift and largely under-the-radar initiative, the Trump administration is piloting a new coworking platform aimed at rethinking how federal employees use office space across the country. Spearheaded by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the program seeks to consolidate the federal real estate footprint and cut costs by enabling cross-agency sharing of government-owned office space—potentially transforming the traditional federal office model.

Two companies—DHC Real Estate Services and LiquidSpace—were awarded $100,000 each to create competing platforms that let federal workers reserve office space on demand, from desks to entire floors, in buildings once siloed by agency. If no suitable government space is available, the platforms may also allow access to commercial coworking hubs. The program will leverage AI for space optimization, forecasting, and analytics, with the potential to expand across up to 150 federal buildings.

The pilot, which started with an aggressive timeline and low budget, aligns with broader cost-cutting goals pushed by Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk. It comes amid significant workforce changes, including an executive order mandating in-office work five days a week and efforts to cut over 120,000 federal jobs.

Though still in its early stages, the initiative could modernize and democratize where and how federal employees work—especially in cities like Chicago and San Francisco—while creating higher-quality, more flexible work environments within an aging federal property portfolio.

Original article posted on March 31, 2025