New FBI Headquarters Delayed By GSA As Virginia, Maryland Wait

VIRGINIA/MARYLAND — The search for a new FBI headquarters — which Virginia and Maryland leaders have both lobbied to land for their states — hit a snag Friday in when a decision will be made.

The U.S. General Services Administration said Friday it has updated the site selection plan for the new FBI headquarters site to increase the consideration of cost to taxpayers and to reflect the Biden administration’s commitment to sustainability and equity.

In its announcement on Friday, the GSA said it revised its site selection plan process for the new FBI headquarters after meeting with officials from Virginia and Maryland. The three final sites under review — in Greenbelt, Maryland, Landover, Maryland and Springfield, Virginia — were selected in 2014 by the GSA.

“The consultations with the delegations provided valuable feedback, and helped us refine our plan to maximize value for the FBI and the public,” said Nina Albert, GSA commissioner of the public buildings service.

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, who have strongly advocated for Springfield as the site for the FBI's new headquarters, expressed concern about the new delay in the site selection process.

"The GSA didn’t pluck its initial criteria out of thin air — it spent years talking to experts and carefully deliberating on what is best for the mission of the FBI," Warner and Kaine said in a statement.

"While we are concerned that these changes to the criteria will further delay what has already been a drawn-out, decade-long process to select a new site to replace the dilapidated headquarters downtown, we remain confident that Virginia continues to be a home run in every category, and encourage the GSA to draw this process to a close sooner rather than later," the senators said.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), who represents the area of Springfield under consideration for the new FBI headquarters, said Friday that Springfield "has always been the best site for a new FBI headquarters."

"Despite attempts to interfere with this process, it remains the best site for the FBI headquarters, and my colleagues and I will continue to make that argument going forward," Beyer said.

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The Washington Post said Virginia seemed to have the edge in the effort to land the new FBI headquarters and its 7,500 jobs. But Maryland’s congressional delegation and Democratic Gov. Wes Moore argued the GSA was putting convenience ahead of other factors.

Moore and Maryland's congressional delegation, in a statement issued Friday afternoon, welcomed the adjusted criteria.

"We are encouraged to see today’s announcement from the General Services Administration corrects the flawed approach released in September that ignored taxpayer costs and the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to equity," the Maryland officials, which also included Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, said in the statement.

The revised guidelines "are a critical step in the right direction and are "in line with the language we secured in last year’s omnibus funding bill that both delegations supported," they said.

The Greenbelt and Landover sites "provide the best operational and cost-effective options for the new, consolidated FBI headquarters," the Maryland officials said.

"They are shovel-ready with exceptional access to transportation and will spur greater equity and opportunity, in line with the Biden-Harris Administration’s executive orders," they added.

The revised GSA criteria comes the same week that U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, called on the House Appropriations Committee to bar any federal dollars from going toward building a new FBI headquarters in either Virginia or Maryland. Jordan urged the GSA to select a site outside the D.C. area, with the Redstone Arsenal Campus in Huntsville, Alabama, as one option.

After announcing the updated site selection process, GSA said Friday it now expects to make a site selection “in the coming months.”

GSA also said efforts are underway to find new space in downtown Washington, D.C., that will complement the new suburban campus. The D.C. site will allow for continued FBI accessibility to the Department of Justice and other key partners, GSA said.

The current FBI headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C. opened to its first employees in June 1974. For more than 15 years, FBI officials have complained that the D.C. headquarters is obsolete, inefficient and no longer meets the needs of an organization that has grown dramatically in the last 45 years.

Nicholas Dimos, FBI assistant director for the finance and facilities division, said that under GSA’s updated plan, “our priorities for the new headquarters remain the same: fulfill FBI mission needs, meet the needs of the FBI workforce, and provide maximum value for taxpayers, relying on GSA’s expertise and best practices in site selection.”

The updated site selection plan simplifies the scoring methodology, increases the consideration of cost to deliver better value for taxpayers, and reflects the administration’s commitment to sustainability and equity, including the incorporation of Executive Order 14091, issued by Biden in February.

The plan also adjusts the weighting of the criteria to reflect these changes.

Two sites in Maryland and one in Virginia were identified as finalists in 2014 because they all met the baseline requirements of the FBI, including being able to accommodate the size of a new headquarters facility and meet the federal government’s security requirements, GSA said.