The federal government's real estate arm has awarded brokerage firms with a series of contracts as it continues to work through its backlog of expiring leases.

The General Services Administration announced Thursday it awarded nine “GLS Plus” contracts to brokerage firms across four regions. It said it plans to award nearly 39M SF in task orders to the firms.

For the National Capital Service Area, which includes D.C., Maryland and Virginia, it selected Savills, CBRE and Public Properties, a small business focused on government leasing.

It also selected Savills and Public Properties for the Southern Service Area.

Cushman & Wakefield and Carpenter/Robbins Commercial Real Estate, another small business, were selected for the Western Service Area. The Northern Service Area awardees were CBRE and JLL.

The contracts provide leasing support services such as market surveys, site visits, document preparation and negotiations. The new GLS Plus contracts include the introduction of a virtual touring technology called Market Survey 360.

"Each time we partner with industry, we identify new technologies bridging the gap between public and private sector leasing practices," GSA Public Buildings Service Commissioner Dan Mathews said in a release. "I am eager to see our customers benefit from the new enhanced broker services contracts."

The awards come as the federal government faces 7.5M SF of expiring leases in the D.C. area this year and another 7.7M SF in 2021, according to a January Cushman & Wakefield report. The GSA has been working to sign more long-term leases to achieve lower rents and reduce the backlog of near-term expirations.

Mathews said on a Bisnow webinar last week that he expects the federal government to need more real estate as a result of anticipated stimulus action.