MT buildings

The federal government owns thousands of buildings that sit empty and every other year or so some congressman puts forth a bill to sell these and save the government the cost of upkeep. It is estimated that keeping these empty buildings up to code plus the cost of upkeep, rent and insurance runs into many millions. So the question arises, why are these buildings still on the books? The answer is a 1987 passed by congress that says before you can sell one of these buildings you must first offer it to any other government agency that may want it. There are 456 agencies and each one would have to consult with all of their departments and other groups. If no agency wants the building the next step is that the property must be offered to the state that it is located in and the state must check with all state agencies. If no state wants it then the property must be offered to any Indian Reservations that may want the property. If they don’t want it, it must be available for public shelter and if no city or country wants it for that reason it may be sold under sealed bid to the highest bidder. To further illustrate the inefficiencies of the government there are currently somewhere between 55,000 and 77,000 empty buildings. It is hard to understand how there could be that much of a range. You would think that they at least had a list of these properties so someone could count them. Can you imagine running a private real estate business and not have an idea of how many properties you owned.