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Building Operations

Q: Who is responsible for providing hand sanitizer in GSA-controlled facilities?

A: GSA will provide hand sanitizer in the building entrances and common areas of federally owned GSA-controlled facilities. In GSA-controlled lease locations, the lessor is responsible for procuring and providing hand sanitizer in building entrances and common areas. Individual agencies are responsible for procuring and providing hand sanitizer within their occupied spaces, whether leased or federally owned. Agencies will also make available wipes and other EPA-approved disinfectants, as necessary, for individuals to wipe down their workstation and related personal property within their occupied areas.

Q: Our agency would like to provide our employees and visitors to our space with face masks and hand sanitizer. Where can these items be purchased?

A: Emergency response products are available through the GSA Advantage! Disaster Relief Products aisle. If a product you want to purchase is backordered on GSA Advantage!, we recommend you contact the vendor directly, as stock levels change daily.

Q: Can Federal agencies put in place facility-level occupancy limits solely for the purposes of facilitating physical distancing?

A. No. To be consistent with Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance, agencies should not establish facility-level occupancy limits solely for the purpose of facilitating physical distancing as a COVID-19 prevention action, absent an exception approved by the agency head following consultation with the agency COVID-19 Coordination Team and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force.

When COVID-19 Community Levels are MEDIUM or HIGH, agencies can consider establishing occupancy limits for indoor common areas and meeting rooms in Federal facilities, and in high-risk settings within Federal facilities, where necessary, including where ventilation and air filtration is challenging to improve or crowding cannot otherwise be avoided.

Q: Should Federal agencies require that individuals physically distance from others?

A: No. To be consistent with Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance, Federal agencies should not require that individuals physically distance from others. Rather, to be consistent with Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance, if COVID-19 Community Levels are MEDIUM or HIGH in a county where a Federal facility is located, then agencies would need to post signage encouraging individuals to consider avoiding crowding and physically distancing themselves from others in indoor common areas, meeting rooms, and high-risk settings in Federal facilities.

Q: What steps should Federal agencies take to improve ventilation and air filtration in Federal facilities?

A: To be consistent with Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance, agencies would need to make and maintain improvements to indoor ventilation and air filtration throughout Federal facilities to the maximum extent feasible, regardless of COVID-19 Community Levels. In consultation with occupational safety and facilities experts as appropriate, agencies should consider making use of portable air cleaners with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters in indoor common areas and meeting rooms, particularly where ventilation or air filtration is otherwise challenging to improve, where crowding cannot be avoided, or in high-risk settings. Agencies may reference the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air in Buildings Challenges for potential steps to improve indoor air quality, as well as CDC guidance on ventilation in buildings.