Port Public Benefit Conveyance Program
Agencies and departments of the Federal government may find that they own property that they no longer require due to programmatic changes, relocation of resources or other operational changes. The Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, provides for the disposal of excess real property to other executive agencies that have a need for the property, or, if there is no such need, for disposal as surplus property. Excess military installations are usually disposed of as a part of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990.
The Secretary of Transportation was given the authority to develop a program to benefit the public by conveying excess real property to States and local governments. As a result, the Maritime Administration developed the Port Conveyance Program in order to convey excess Federal property for the purposes of port development, port expansion and operation of port facilities. Conveyances involve no monetary consideration provided the property is used and maintained in perpetuity as a port facility.
The first conveyance transfer was to the Port of Benton, Richland, Washington in September of 1996. Since the program’s inception, the Maritime Administration has conveyed nearly two thousand nine hundred acres to State and local governments in support of port facilities.