LOS ANGELES—At the RICS annual Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles on April 24, Army Reserve facilities chief James Balocki asked the private sector to help the government manage its assets. In response, RICS has pledged to bring global private forces together to collaborate and help the Army Reserve become “leaner, greener and more efficient,” according to Balocki.

“The U.S. Army Reserve has played a critical role in the Army's transformation. It comprises 20% of the Army's organized units for less than 6% of the Army's budget. Nonetheless, we are now challenged to find new, better, inventive ways to be more cost-efficient and more cost-effective if we are going to continue to maintain our Army's readiness posture to defend this nation,” Balocki tells GlobeSt.com. “That's tough because the automatic cuts across the federal government triggered by the budget control act of 2011 are having a profound impact on the nation's Army. We recognize the private sector with its resourcefulness, culture of solving hard problems and spirit of ingenuity has and can continue to provide the Army Reserve with a host of innovative ideas to attain new efficiencies, greater effectiveness and improved use of resources.”

RICS responded immediately to the call, and already a few interested parties have opened a dialogue with the Army Reserve; however, Balocki says they hope to hear from even more organizations as word spreads. Over the next eight months, RICS will hold roundtables with industry leaders to discuss best practices for development, leasing, management and maintenance of government real estate and to help Balocki achieve his goals in initiating the call, which include: sustainable construction methods, asset management and facilities maintenance, renewable energy and energy efficiency, leasing and property management, building design and prefabrication, building technology, environmental cleanup, privatization of services for soldiers and families, real estate valuation and property use, workplace efficiencies.

Balocki believes that the private sector is well-equipped to tackle these goals. “We value our connection to the nation's private sector. We know from our own experience the private sector is among the greatest advantages the U.S. has in maintaining strong national security, military readiness and defense capabilities,” Balocki says. “The Army Reserve wants to increase its public-private partnerships to leverage even more cutting-edge efficiencies and knowledge to help us with the challenges we're facing now and what we'll face in the future.”

The RICS Summit of the Americas was very eventful. At the conference, RICS also revealed the findings of RICS Future, a comprehensive study based on seven key factors that will affect the ways in which its members operate, and charting three possible scenarios for the world in which they'll be living and working in the next 15 years.