Canberra public servants will be packed more tightly into office blocks in a bid to save up to $100 million a year, Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner says.
Mr Tanner also said he would like to see an agency move to Gungahlin, but would not force one to go there.
''Unlike a number of the state and territory governments, the Federal Government does not use its office accommodation requirements to contribute to its broader economic development objectives,'' he said.
He issued the Commonwealth's new property management guidelines yesterday, which include an ''occupational density target''.
This target means departments should have no more than 16sqm per occupied desk, although there would be ''some minor flexibility''.
''The target will only apply when a major fit-out is undertaken or when agencies have the opportunity to enter into a new tenancy, which will occur as the Commonwealth's current non-Defence leases progressively expire over the next 15 years,'' he said.
Average floor space currently varied from below 15sqm a person to ''well over 25sqm'' and agencies paid from below $290 to above $450 a square metre for Canberra office space.
A Community and Public Sector Union spokesman said the union welcomed any savings measures that would enable resources spent on accommodation to be redirected into service delivery and policy.
''However, the policy potentially throws up a range of issues for our members and it looks like it will be a devil-in-the-detail situation, so we have written to the minister to clarify how many agencies will be impacted by this,'' he said.
He also wanted to know if there would be a minimum area for public servants' space.
Mr Tanner said the Commonwealth could save up to $100million a year by 2025 through the new target and other changes included in the new guidelines. Agencies would retain some of these savings.
He said the guidelines focused around getting value for money.
''My very clear message for property owners is that to attract an Australian Government tenant, you need to convince an agency that you have the best value for money offering,'' he said.
ACT Planning Minister Andrew Barr said Gungahlin would offer good value for a department, and a town centre planning study would remove any planning impediments to a developer building suitable office space there.
Mr Tanner said the Commonwealth's proposed national broadband network could also help make Gungahlin, and other more regional areas, attractive for office space.
Property Council ACT executive director Catherine Carter welcomed the guidelines, saying they would provide certainty to the market. ''Some 60per cent of Canberra's office market is occupied by Government tenants,'' she said.
Mr Tanner also confirmed his department was selling several Barton sites, including a car park on Broughton Street (Block 13 of Section 9), undeveloped land on Sydney Avenue (Block 3 of Section 22) that includes a conservation area for the golden sun moth and York Park (Block 5 of Section 1) on Brisbane Avenue, which could become office space for the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.