GSA's Joe Moravec

Next week is F. Joseph Moravec’s last one on the job. After four years on the job, the commissioner of the Public Buildings Service of the General Services Administration is hanging up his cap. The man who is credited with implementing a raft of private-sector type initiatives in what was once a lumbering bureaucracy is, ironically, returning to the private sector. While he acknowledges that he was the engine of much change within the organization, he states frankly that he gained by a more enlightened age and was in fact riding a decade-long evolutionary wave wherein the GSA as a whole was absorbing efficiency tips from outside government. Regardless of first causes, Moravec (whose credentials include upper-level stints at Legatt McCall & Werner and Grubb & Ellis) leaves an organization with the freedom to address customer need and the ability to asset-manage its holdings–this primarily the result of an executive order signed by President George Bush last year. That’s a major gain for an organization that oversees some 8,000 buildings totaling 345 million sf of owned (180 million) and leased (165 million) space.

GlobeSt.com: Should we assume that your leaving means the GSA, despite all the changes, still doesn’t emulate the private sector enough for you?

Moravec: No, my leaving has nothing to do with whether or not I enjoy my job. But I’m glad you asked the question. The past four years have been a real revelation about the nature of government and what it does for the American people. It’s given me a real appreciation, even admiration, for those who make this a career. These are smart and dedicated people, motivated in many cases by love of country and by the desire to make the world a better place to live. I’ve discovered that the system, as whacky as it is sometimes, actually works pretty well, and if you know what you’re talking about, you can prevail.