GSA Inspector General To Investigate FBI HQ Selection Process That Led To MD Site

VIRGINIA — The General Service Administration’s watchdog office has agreed to conduct an investigation into the process used by the agency to select a site in Prince George’s County, Maryland, as the new headquarters for the FBI.

In a letter sent to U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) on Thursday, Robert Erickson, acting inspector general of the GSA, said the objective of the investigation "will be to assess the agency’s process and procedures for the site selection to relocate the FBI headquarters."

“We intend to begin this work immediately and will share with you and the relevant committees a copy of any report which may result from this evaluation,” Erickson said.

Members of Virginia’s congressional delegation welcomed the news of the inspector general’s investigation.

“Given the overwhelming evidence suggesting that the General Services Administration administered a site selection process fouled by politics, we agree that an inspector general investigation is the appropriate next step,” the Virginia lawmakers said in a statement Thursday.

“We applaud the inspector general for moving quickly and encourage him to move forward to complete a careful and thorough review,” the lawmakers said. “In the meantime, the GSA must pause all activities related to the relocation until the IG’s investigation is complete.”

Along with Warner, Sen. Tim Kaine (D) and Reps. Don Beyer (D), Gerry Connolly (D), Morgan Griffith (R), Jen Kiggans (R), Jennifer McClellan (D), Bobby Scott (D), Abigail Spanberger (D), Jennifer Wexton (D), and Rob Wittman (R) signed the statement in support of the investigation.

READ ALSO: Investigation Into FBI HQ Site Selection Requested By VA Lawmakers

Earlier this month, the GSA announced it had selected a site in Greenbelt, Maryland over another site in Prince George’s County and a site in Springfield, Virginia, to build the new FBI headquarters.

If the site selection process stands up to scrutiny, the new FBI headquarters campus will be built on a 61-acre site near the Greenbelt Metro station as part of a mixed-use development.

Even with the inspector general's decision to conduct an investigation, Maryland officials said in a joint statement Thursday they have no doubt the new FBI headquarters project in Greenbelt is moving forward.

"The GSA selected Greenbelt for the new, consolidated FBI headquarters based on the fact that it is the best site," the officials said. "Any objective evaluation will find that the GSA arrived at this decision after a thorough and transparent process."

"After assessing the facts, the GSA determined that Greenbelt offers the lowest price and best value to taxpayers, the easiest access to public transportation, the most schedule certainty to ensure the FBI can move to a new headquarters that meets its mission and security needs as soon as possible, and the greatest opportunity to advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s equity goals," they said.

The joint statement was issued by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin (D) and Chris Van Hollen (D), Reps. Steny Hoyer (D), Dutch Ruppersberger (D), John Sarbanes (D), Kweisi Mfume (D), Jamie Raskin (D), David Trone (D) and Glenn Ivey, and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.

On Nov. 15, the members of Virginia’s congressional delegation wrote to the GSA's Office of Inspector General to request an investigation into the site selection process.

The facts of the site selection process, which resulted in Greenbelt getting chosen as the new headquarters site for the FBI, “paint an ugly picture of a fatally flawed procurement that demands further investigation,” the lawmakers, who requested an immediate investigation, wrote in their letter.

In their joint letter, the Virginia delegation said there is “overwhelming evidence” suggesting that the GSA administered a site selection process “fouled by political considerations and alleged impropriety — one that was repeatedly curated to arrive at a predetermined outcome.”

In the middle of the process, the GSA changed the original site selection criteria, which had been developed by GSA experts, in accordance with the agency’s own best practices for site selection, “in a way that favored the Greenbelt site, and did so over the objections of the FBI director,” the lawmakers wrote.

The GSA also changed the person tasked with confirming the final site selection from a career official to a political appointee, they said.

“As identified by the FBI, there existed a potential conflict of interest with that political appointee, tied to the Greenbelt site,” they wrote. “The political appointee then overturned the decision of a panel of career officials who unanimously selected Springfield, in part by changing how certain criteria were calculated and how certain factors were considered, contrary to what had been previously outlined to the public and to Congress by GSA.”

Maryland officials have said the $3 billion facility would further the goal of President Joe Biden's administration to invest in communities underserved by the federal government. Prince George's County, where the new FBI headquarters would be built under the selection process, is a majority-Black county.

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