Dollars Spent ... shows the dollars spent on different line items in security by the U.S. private sector in 2001 and 2002.The commercial real estate industry has always had comprehensive emergency preparedness plans in place, even prior to the events of September 11, 2001; but as these events riveted our attention, building owners and managers responded by strengthening existing security systems and making changes in their operations. Both private and government sectors reported spending considerably more on security in 2002 vs. 2001.Corporate facilities, which typically comprise high-profile, Class A buildings, reported increasing their overall security expenses by 13 percent ($1.03/rsf in 2002 vs. $0.91/rsf in 2001), according to BOMA’s Experience Exchange Report 2003. The dollar amount spent by corporate facilities on security contracts went up by 35 percent in 2002 ($0.73 vs. $0.54 in 2001). Security contracts include both guard and monitoring contracts.
A large number of corporate facilities have also implemented tighter vendor security, including vendor check-in procedures and requests for vendors to conduct employee background checks. Special attention is also being paid to parking decks and garages, where bombs can be planted in entering vehicles. The dollar amount spent on security equipment also increased to $0.15/rsf in 2002 vs. $0.06 in 2001 – the costs of acquiring and upgrading cameras, monitors, and alarm systems accounted for a large portion of this increase. The trend to increase security spending is likely to continue for the next couple of years before it levels off.What Does This Mean?Most industry experts seem to agree that 2004 will see improvements over 2003, though the road is not expected to be smooth. Companies must be flexible and nimble to keep up with the changes. BOMA International strives to keep abreast – and ahead – of these changes. On matters of public policy, BOMA has been instrumental in enacting legislation to help ease the tax burden on the real estate industry. Even more importantly, many proposals that are floated on Capitol Hill and before decision-makers that are potentially detrimental to our industry never come about as a result of the efforts of BOMA International and the local BOMA associations across the United States and Canada.For more information, visit the BOMA International website (www.boma.org) or call (202) 408-2662.
