The five-year Strategic Facilities Plan (SFP) for Fiscal Years 2012-2017 was approved in spring 2010. The SFP is adjusted annually following a series of Building and Space Plan Meetings to revise facility priorities in accordance with changing NIH needs and in anticipation of future facility budgets. The Buildings and Facilities (B&F) plan includes requests to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to fund new construction and renovation projects; facility activities related to the remediation of unsafe conditions, upgrading of obsolescent systems; and the elimination of code or regulatory compliance deficiencies; and Repair and Improvement projects. The Lease Space Plan identifies lease space actions NIH intends to support over the coming five-year period.  These include new, replacement, and consolidated Prospectus level leases as well as leases scheduled to expire and ongoing leases that are planned to remain in the inventory. 

The SFP approved by the Facilities Working Group in 2010 was focused on three areas:            

                      Control Costs of Administrative Lease Space:

• Consolidate new/replacement leases by reducing the number of separate leases by placing requirements in existing lease clusters
• Reduce average utilization rate from 190 to 160 nasf per person
  

                      Bring back Research Lease Space to Government-owned facilities:

• As research lab leases expire, move labs back to campus when possible
• Quasi-commercial labs will remain in leased space
  

                     Director's Reserve:

• Maintain 25,000 nasf of Administrative Space
• Prioritize allocation of Research Space

With the exception of Anatomical Pathology, Phase A, no line item B&F projects were proposed for funding during the five-year SFP period.

The NIH Lease Plan is increasingly used to address requirements that cannot be met on government property. Priorities of this Plan are to:

1. Replace expiring leases with government owned space, in particular where research space is concerned;
2. Consolidate small leases into larger Prospectus level actions led by GSA;
3. Maintain current lease clusters when possible; and
4. Continue to promote efficient space utilization through space assignment rates, and increased use of telework/hoteling.