The Finance Department's move into a state-of-the-art building on the approaches to Parliament House will save the public purse $55 million across 20 years, it has claimed.
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There was surprise in February when two Labor senators learnt the long-term cost of the move would be $376 million, nearly double the $195 million figure they were given during the cross-party committee review last year.
A Finance spokesman outlined the savings on Friday, saying they were the result of reduced lease and operating costs at the new One Canberra Avenue site in Forrest.
"This does not include further savings from efficiencies that will be generated," he said.
The department has moved 625 of its staff into the newly built and leased premises since February 29, with about 1450 staff to be in the building once the relocation was completed by the end of June.
A departmental spokeswoman said in February "long-standing practice" had been followed to supply the lower $195 million figure to the Public Works Committee, as this was the cost in net present value terms, not the nominal figure.
The government contracting website AusTender shows Finance will pay developer Willemsen $376 million for a 20-year lease of the 20,000-square-metre building, which comes with 500 car spaces.
The spokeswoman said the net present value was used to express a value in today's dollars, but the committee was also provided with all the figures in nominal terms. Labor senator Joanne Ryan said in February she had no recollection of hearing the larger figure.
Relocation of all Finance staff leaves the Department of Environment as the sole tenant of the John Gorton Building on King Edward Terrace. "There will be similar cost and efficiency benefits to the Commonwealth and to the Department of Environment from their collocation in JGB," the Finance spokesman said on Friday.
Finance monitors the use of civilian federal government property and has been cracking down on empty office space, with 21 per cent of federal office space vacant nationally, including about 17,000 desks in Canberra.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has said the government would save $200 million in a decade through its Operation Tetris plan, launched last year, to move agencies into vacant leases instead of signing up to new ones.
