While the private investment sales market has slowed during the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government is looking to unload a series of major properties, creating new opportunities for brokers and buyers.

The General Services Administration posted a solicitation July 17 for brokers to help it sell a portfolio of properties valued between $500M and $750M, the Washington Business Journal reports.

The solicitation continues a process begun in 2016 with the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act, which set up a panel to identify properties the government no longer needs and can sell to the private sector. The panel recommended a portfolio including properties in California, Colorado, Idaho, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington state and Maryland.

The Maryland property is a 13.7-acre site in Montgomery County that formerly housed a Cold War-era rocket launch facility. The National Institute of Standards and Technology now uses two buildings on the site to test robot technology, but it plans to shift those activities to a nearby campus in 2022, and the panel sees it as a valuable development site.

The sale process is expected to run from November until the end of 2021. Responses for the solicitation are due by 3 p.m. Tuesday, July 28.

The GSA is also moving forward with a significant amount of leasing activity that is creating business for brokers in that market. In May, it gave nine contracts to brokerage firms across the country to which it plans to award nearly 39M SF in task orders.