The General Services Administration (GSA) announced major provisions to its regulatory policies that may impact federal buildings and artworks in its portfolio. It has also eliminated certain mandates related to DEI, union membership, COVID-19 safety, sustainable travel guidance, and alternative fuel usage requirements.
The deregulatory changes were issued as “final rule” on December 16, 2025. They are aligned with two executive orders from the White House: Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation and Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s “DOGE” Deregulatory Initiative.
Initiatives that were advanced in 2022 to promote DEI by the GSA were reversed as part of the final rule. In 2022, the GSA and National Endowment for the Arts launched an initiative to help connect artists of color with federal commissions. That initiative has been discontinued.
The Art in Architecture’s program website was updated three days ago to reflect the GSA’s new mandate. GSA’s Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP) associate administrator Larry Allen said in a statement the changes represent “one of the most significant deregulatory achievements in GSA’s history.”
Marianne Copenhaver, GSA associate administrator for strategic communications, told AN that “GSA is proud to have reduced regulatory burden by rescinding regulations that are not explicitly required by statutes or that are duplicative.”
“This rule does not change the underlying statutes or any regulations maintained by other agencies in regards to historic federal buildings including the National Historic Preservation Act,” Copenhaver elaborated. “GSA protects and manages more than 500 historic buildings, and is committed to preserving America’s historic building legacy.”
The Trump administration has been consistently accused of Section 106 violations in regard to the White House East Wing Ballroom replacement project, the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, and others. (Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin has introduced legislation, backed by the AIA, to remove the White House’s exemption from Section 106.)
These latest changes at the GSA may make it even more difficult to prevent alterations to federal properties by the Trump administration according to Mary Okin, Living New Deal assistant director. Today, Okin is actively trying to save the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, and other historic buildings in the capital. She opposes the deregulations.
Okin told AN: “It is my understanding that such changes at the GSA aim to strip the regulatory process from federal real estate management and will decimate GSA’s reputation as a responsible steward of historic cultural resources that are nationally significant and belong to the American people.”
→ Continue reading at The Architect's Newspaper
