FBI to consolidate its Headquarters

 FBI Headquarters Consolidation

By: KANWAL ABIDI

Political Analyst & Journalist

Recently, the US General Services Administration (GSA) issued Phase II of the Request for Proposals (RFP) to the bidders that will compete for title to the J. Edgar Hoover Federal building in exchange for the construction of a new 2.1 million rentable square-foot Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters facility.  

The FBI Headquarters is situated in a prime location on Pennsylvania Avenue and has occupied the J. Edgar Hoover Federal building since 1974.  The 1.77 million rentable square foot (2.4 million gross square foot) J. Edgar Hoover Federal building spreads on 6.7 acres of land and is a prime location for office, retail, and residential uses.

The FBI headquarters Consolidation Project is part of GSA’s ongoing effort to meet the Obama Administration’s “reduce the footprint and operational efficiency” by consolidating federal agencies into owned government space and getting underperforming federal facilities redundant in the government’s books.

In October 2015, GSA notified the short-listed bidders that they been selected to participate in Phase II.  In Phase II, bidders will submit proposals to construct the consolidated FBI Headquarters in exchange for the J. Edgar Hoover Federal building.  

The National Environmental Policy Act evaluation process is underway and GSA released the draft Environmental Impact Statement in November, held public meetings in each of the three local jurisdictions, and is in the process of reviewing public comments.

The project will bring together FBI headquarters functions currently housed at the J. Edgar Hoover Federal building, as well as those dispersed at multiple locations across the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

Three potential sites - Greenbelt MD, Landover MD, and Springfield, VA - for the new FBI headquarters facility have already been identified.

GSA has announced to make an award for the project in FY 2017, where $1.4 million in construction funding will be included in the President’s Fiscal year 2017 Budget to be released on February 9, 2016.

Congress has extended its support towards the project through the inclusion of $390 million in the Fiscal Year 2016 Omnibus. 

“The US Administration is committed to acquiring a consolidated new headquarters facility for the FBI members’ of the intelligence community,” said Bill Dowd, Project Executive for GSA’s Public Buildings Service.

The consolidated headquarters facility will allow the FBI to perform its critical national security, intelligence, and law enforcement missions in a new modern and secure facility.

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Research & Reported by: KANWAL ABIDI

                                           Journalist, political analyst, media strategist

                                             063 News (Global Press Agency)