Oversight and improvement of state owned buildings and property can be traced back to the construction of the State House in 1829-1832. From 1832 to 1937, the oversight of buildings and property was the responsibility of specific individuals and not a formal entity. The first Bureau was organized in 1937 with the establishment of a Superintendent of Public Buildings and was titled the Bureau of Public Improvements (BPI). For the next fifty years, the Bureau evolved, assuming an increasingly comprehensive real property management role and was also designated as the secretariat to the Capitol Planning Commission. In 1991, the separate Departments of Administration and Finance merged, creating the Department of Administrative and Financial Services (DAFS). As part of establishing the new DAFS, a successor Bureau to BPI was created as the Bureau of General Services (BGS). The Bureau is led by a Director responsible for the management of architectural and engineering services, facilities, risk management services, central fleet vehicles, surplus property, postal operations, energy conservation, property records, state and leased space and environmental services. The Bureau was briefly divided into two Bureaus (Real Estate Management & Business Management) between 2017 and part of 2019 by administrative acting, however the statutory structure for BGS was not modified and the original configuration remained intact.
BGS was established to provide focused management and coordination of state facilities, leased space and the maintenance, renovation or construction of state owned buildings.
Specifically, the Director's coordinate real estate acquisition and sales, policy research and reporting, inter-divisional and inter-agency initiatives, various statutory stakeholder groups, building condition assessments, public improvement projects and expenditures as authorized by the legislature and other special projects. Additionally, the Bureau provides architectural design services, construction management, project management and development and management of efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally-sustainable programs and activities.
The Bureau’s mission is to establish and maintain a physical environment that supports a safe and productive experience for state government employees and all who visit any State of Maine facility.
We have one primary goal: to be the very best and most effective provider of those services.
The Bureau’s enabling, or authorizing laws can be found in 5 M.R.S., Chapters 153 and 154.