According to HigherGov, the General Services Administration (GSA) posted an RFP on March 4th to "implement an enterprise-wide, scalable marketplace solution to optimize its real estate portfolio and streamline the management of federal office space". This week we heard that this contract has been awarded as two 12-month pilots.

As of curation, we have confirmed that two booking platforms are involved. LiquidSpace will be working with Trebellar on their solution in San Francisco. Upflex is leaning on their existing integration partnership with Gospace AI in conjunction with DHC Real Estate Services, a certified veteran-owned small business, for a pilot in Chicago.

This is a developing story, and in many ways would break government contracting records for speed – going from RFP to two pilots in weeks. It does follow/build on previous GSA contracts or flex-forward moves we’ve covered including the flex workspace contract vehicle and the FedCowork pilot. Stay tuned to This Week in Coworking as we continue to cover this story.

WOTSO has already announced three new sites in 2025, including the takeover of a former WeWork space in North Sydney, a 600sqm location in Kogarah in southern Sydney, and a site in Whangārei, New Zealand purchased for $NZ3.7 million.

The North Sydney location will follow WOTSO’s successful strategy of placing coworking space on the ground floor with street-facing windows, while the Kogarah site was chosen for its strong transport links and population growth. With these additions, WOTSO will operate 33 flexspaces across Australia and New Zealand, with six new sites opening in the next three months including additional locations in Melbourne, Jamisontown, and Te Tōangaroa.

Mike Rome, an experienced marketing leader, shared in a LinkedIn Post why he believes that the best coworking space in town is free…and is at your local public library.

We’ve seen libraries competing more head-on with coworking spaces as they’re often close to home, have open (and quiet) workspaces, and increasingly offer areas to collaborate in.

Trend tracker: Libraries vs Coworking.

25N Coworking, a well known and respected coworking operator based in the Chicago, IL suburbs has announced a new luxury coworking brand, The Amara Club.

Located on the top floor of a Shaumburg, IL office building, the space offers Chicago skyline views, a bar, a dedicated concierge, premium refreshments, parking, guest passes and more. There’s also a trend of more brands having multiple brands as coworking touches more markets with different workplace needs and budgets.

Office Hub announced a new product called Property Hub, aimed at empowering brokers with a powerful CRM that also is plugged into live inventory listings.

The main value prop they’re promoting? Direct inventory integration that allows for faster turnaround from initial request, to proposal, to signed contract. This area is heating up as more and more tools like Valve and managed. that focus on making flex deals faster (read: more profitable) for brokers.